The Price of Fish
by fringeperson
Summary: Sometimes, you can slap a person in the face with a fish, and they'll still ask why you hit them with a rubber chicken. Tsunahime will get her point through to these people even if she has to compromise in ways she'd rather not. Come hell or high water, she'll do this her way. Fem!27, 2718, 27X, don't own.
1. Chapter 1

"No."

Reborn didn't blink. Anybody else would have. Sawada Tsunahime was on her way to being convinced that Reborn lacked eyelids entirely.

"Jyuudaime! Please, please give me a chance!" Gokudera Hayato begged as he prostrated himself on the ground. He'd been down there anyway, so it wasn't hard for him to shuffle into that position.

When the introductions were done, and Reborn had said that if she didn't want to die, then she had to fight... and as Gokudera had four sticks of lit dynamite in each hand suddenly, Tsunahime had been quick to perform the one act that no man or boy would ever think of to defend themselves. It didn't take long, once the boy was down and clutching his abused groin, for her to put out the slowly fizzling fuses.

"You need to grow your Famiglia," Reborn stated plainly. "Gokudera would be an asset."

"Be that as it may," Tsunahime said, "my Family already has a number of people in it. The position of 'Right Hand' is not available, nor has it been for years."

Reborn frowned. He'd arrived in Namimori only the day before. There was no way that his student could have gathered any appropriate members so quickly. Especially without him knowing. Wait. Years? And she had said 'a number', which was very vague...

"Then, I will be your Left Hand, Jyuudaime!"

"Also taken."

"Herbivores," a voice growled at them from the corner of the building.

Tsuna promptly bowed to the dangerous prefect that had appeared.

"Please excuse me, Hibari-sempai. It seems that my new tutor is insane, the new exchange student is a delinquent, and I have been caught in the middle," Tsuna explained. "Though I have done my best to prevent any harm befalling the school."

"..." Already narrow eyes narrowed still further.

Tsuna bent to collect up the snuffed sticks of dynamite, and handed them over to the prefect.

"He had these. Possibly, he has more. I only provided some extreme negative reinforcement in regards to how it would be a bad idea to make anything go 'boom' at the back of the science block," she explained softly.

"Very well," he permitted. "Return to your class, Small Animal."

Tsuna bowed again, turned on her heel without looking at either Reborn or Gokudera, and started to head back inside.

"As it seems the Small Animal has already punished you sufficiently, I will not bite you to death for bringing explosives onto school property. This time. However, you will hand over all of the explosives you have, or I will reinforce the Small Animal's lesson."

~oOo~

Tsuna returned home from school – she stayed late, always, to do her homework there with help from Hana and Kyoko – to find a boy in a cow-suit (tail and all) climbing up the tree that was outside her window. On its own, that would have annoyed her. As the boy looked to be about five, rather than fifteen, she wouldn't yell at him for peeping. She'd yell at him for trespassing, being stupid, and putting himself in a dangerous situation instead.

She was also going to confiscate all of those weapons he was carrying.

To start with, she yanked the halberd from his hold. It was enough to upset the child's tenuous balance, and he fell backwards. Tsuna managed to catch him, but all the weapons fell to the ground. It was lucky that they all had the safety on, or that could have gone very, very badly.

"That was a very foolish, dangerous thing for a child to do," Tsuna informed the boy. "You are also trespassing."

"I am the Great five-year-old Hitman Lambo of the Bovino Famiglia!" the child protested as he wriggled in her hold and fought (unsuccessfully) to return to the ground. "I came from Italy, I like grapes and hard candy, and I am the sworn rival of Reborn!"

"I see," Tsuna said, voice decidedly cool. "And how long have you been a hitman, Lambo-kun?"

"Um..." the child hesitated. "A month?" he guessed. "That's how long I've been learning Japanese."

"And you have learned it very well, Lambo-kun. I am most impressed. Are you particularly attached to the profession though?" Tsuna asked next.

"I will defeat Reborn!" the child swore.

"That doesn't answer my question," Tsuna countered firmly and plainly. "You could defeat Reborn-san in a pie-eating contest, or at a game of marbles, or you could be better than him at art. You don't have to be a hitman."

Lambo frowned in thought at that.

"My Famiglia said I wasn't to come back until I'd killed Reborn," the boy admitted quietly.

Tsuna nodded, even as she mentally sighed to herself.

"In exchange for handing over all of your weapons – _all_ , Lambo-kun, you are not to keep back anything – and a solemn promise to abide by my rule and the rules of hospitality, then I, Sawada Tsunahime, the heir apparent to the Vongola Famiglia, will grant you sanctuary in my house and a place in my home," she offered solemnly.

Lambo started unloading weaponry from his hair. Some of which should really, really not have fit in there.

Tsunahime decided she was better off not asking. Either way, that was that. Her mother would be pleased to have more people to cook for. For that matter, so would Tsuna, though she would deny that if ever asked.

~oOo~

It was lunch time, and Tsunahime had every intention of deliberately ditching Gokudera and Yamamoto – the baseball star had heard Gokudera call her 'Jyuudaime' that morning before class, and asked if he could join in whatever game they were playing. He was an idiot, which was annoying, but he wasn't as abrasive as Gokudera.

"Jyuudaime!" Gokudera called after her.

"I am going to have lunch with my friends," Tsuna hissed at him. "You are not invited."

"Hahaha!" Yamamoto laughed. "Surely it's alright? The more the merrier, neh?"

"Not when I'm being asked to endure idiots," Tsuna snapped.

"J-Jyudaime! Don't lump me in with this – ACK!"

"I already told you this morning," Tsuna said as she tapped her hand with a ruler. A ruler she'd just smacked the silver-haired delinquent across the nose with. "Don't call me that here. While at school, you are to address me as 'Sawada-san', and nothing else. Until you can remember and follow such a simple instruction, you are an idiot, and I will not associate with you while at school unless ordered by the teachers."

"Hahaha! You sure are strict, Sawada-chan!" Yamamoto laughed.

"Goodbye," Tsuna said firmly, and walked out of the classroom with her bento. She was having lunch on the roof with Hana and Kyoko today. Unfortunately, her bento proved to have been tampered with when she opened it.

"Tsuna-chan," Hana said neutrally. "That... is not up to your usual standard."

"This is not what I packed for my lunch," Tsuna countered.

"It's better if you don't eat that," a voice piped up from on top of the door that led back into the school building. Reborn had appeared from... somewhere. "One bite, and you'll go straight to Heaven."

"I should shove some down your throat then," Tsuna quipped at the infant-sized bane of her existence. She seemed to have a great many banes these days, but only one (so far) that was that size. "Send you straight to Hell."

"Come out," the not-baby called over at the other doorway to the roof. "I know you're there, Bianchi."

The door opened to reveal a woman with pink-washed hair. Bianchi, presumably.

"Ciaossu, Bianchi," Reborn greeted her when the woman had crossed the roof so that she stood near where Tsuna and her friends were sitting.

"Reborn!" the woman exclaimed as her cheeks flushed. "I've come to take you back, Reborn. Let's do some large-scale jobs again? The place where you belong is in the dangerous and thrilling underworld," she entreated passionately, even as she fiddled with the ends of some of her hair like she was shy.

"I told you before, Bianchi," Reborn answered her. "I have the job of raising Tsuna."

Tsuna and Hana exchanged dry, unimpressed looks at that proclamation. For many reasons, not just the obvious.

"Poor Reborn!" Bianchi lamented, still blushing. "That means that if the tenth doesn't die in some horrible accident, Reborn will never be free!"

"Europeans are so dramatic," Tsuna grumbled, then threw the tampered bento into the woman's face. "Also, adults not on staff are not permitted on school grounds during school hours. Kindly piss off, before I do something more drastic than throw your own cooking back in your face."

~oOo~

They had home economics class after lunch. It was one of Tsuna's favourite classes. As much as she helped out her mother around the house, it was something that she really was very good at. It was also amusing – and occasionally flattering – to see the boys trying to race each other to claim whatever treats the girls were deigning to share.

Certain boys would always try to claim the sweets made by certain girls. Some of that was the skill at cooking, or the type of treat made, but a lot of it was also which girl they liked. Of course, there was also the issue of which boys the girls wanted to give their treats to.

Tsunahime, for her part, packed up her cake into a box, rather than putting it on a plate.

"Ara ara, not sharing with our classmates again, Tsuna-chan?" Hana asked knowingly. "Even Kyoko-chan lets our classmates taste her cooking sometimes, rather than saving it for her monkey of a brother all the time."

"To flirt is capital," Tsuna recited softly with a smile. "It _is_ capital, and we must obey the law. Deuce take the law."

Act one of _The Mikado_ , an English light opera. She had watched it (with subtitles, of course) with her mother one night, about a year ago, when it was on the international channel. It very neatly summed up her relationship status. Her friend was very familiar with the quote and its meaning by now. In the light opera, the act of flirting was punishable by decapitation. Hence: capital. It was still a wonderful thing to do (capital). To obey the law was to not flirt. Drat the law, she would find a way!

"Giving one of the sempai the cake that you made in class, however, is acceptable," Hana noted, still smiling that knowing smile. Then she frowned abruptly. "Why you choose to give it to _him_ though -"

"You will never understand," Tsuna finished for her friend. "Even though I have explained it to you before."

Hana grumbled, and returned to the delicate matter of setting her cake just right onto the plate.

~oOo~

Tsuna blinked at the strange sight of a girl, about her age, walking along the top of the fences that lined the street. Any normal person – like herself – walked on the ground. Reborn walked on the railing of course, but it was wide enough for him that it wasn't an issue for balance, and it allowed him to be 'taller' than Tsunahime was.

When the strange girl stopped in front of Reborn – and he, in turn, stopped in front of her – Tsuna decided to just keep walking. Reborn wasn't a baby, for all he looked like it. She didn't need to babysit him.

The strange girl was standing in front of the Sawada house when Tsuna got back from school though, so it was suddenly an issue.

"How dare you corrupt the pure, angelic heart of a baby!" the girl accused. "I, Miura Haru, have come to rescue Reborn-chan from your evil clutches!"

"Dwarf," Tsuna corrected.

"Hahi?" Miura squeaked, her ire thrown off by Tsuna's bland response.

"Dwarf, not baby. Reborn-san is a grown man. He just didn't grow very much," Tsuna explained plainly. Really, it hadn't been hard to figure out. Reborn might look like a brat even younger than Lambo, but he didn't have the waddle-walk characteristic of children that age. That is to say: those used to having necessarily padded underwear wrapped around their bums, and who were still figuring out how co-ordination worked.

(As one who helped out with household chores, such as laundry, Tsunahime could even vouch that Reborn wore boxer-shorts the same colour as the band on his fedora. Satin ones, even.)

"Hahi? Reborn-chan isn't a baby? But- but- but- desu! He's so adorable and- !" the girl floundered.

"And older than both of us put together," Tsunahime stated.

"Then... he really is a hitman?" the Miura girl asked weakly.

"He said that?" Tsuna countered, then shook her head. Of course he did. "He's a live-in tutor. Or possibly an insane scam artist who believes his own cons. I haven't decided yet," she said with a shrug. "He has been helping me pick up my math grade, either way."

"Mou," the other girl pouted sadly.

"Please excuse me. I have chores to do."

~oOo~

"Reborn-san," Tsuna acknowledged when she was confronted by the sight of her 'tutor' on her way to have lunch with her friends. Gokudera and Yamamoto were following. Tsuna refused to eat with them, but that didn't stop them from eating nearby. "What's with the costume?"

"Bianchi made it for me when she was in elementary," Reborn answered, and rolled his spike-covered person into Tsuna's legs.

She felt the prickles through her socks.

"I see you've decided to be irritating today," she noted. "So Bianchi of the poisonous cooking skills made you a costume. That doesn't tell me why you're wearing it."

"Oh? A big surprise with a big chestnut?" Gokudera guessed from behind.

"This is a sea urchin," Reborn corrected with a smile, going along with the joke... to an extent.

"Hahaha! That's funny!" Yamamoto cheered. Of course he found it funny.

"Monkeys," Hana scoffed softly where she was standing next to Tsuna.

"It's camouflage for spying on people who commute on long distance trains," Reborn explained.

"More like making sure no one comes close when you have to ride one," Tsuna countered. "That is not camouflage. At all."

"It does make it easy to relax," Reborn allowed freely. "But as I said, Bianchi made it for me. With that in mind, it should not surprise you that whoever touches these spikes will go to Heaven in thirty seconds."

That said, he pulled out a stop-watch.

"San, nii, ichi..." he counted down.

Tsuna swayed dangerously, and her eyes rolled up. Hana and Kyoko just managed to catch her before she fell to the ground and hurt herself. Gokudera and Yamamoto hurried to help.

"Exactly thirty seconds," Reborn said with a pleased smile. "How precise."

"If you've really killed her," Hana growled threateningly.

"It's okay," Reborn assured her. "She'll wake up in ten minutes. Until then, I know a place where you can put her so that she can rest safely."

~oOo~

When Tsunahime woke up, she wasn't in the hallway any more. In fact, she was lying on a comfortable couch (comfortable but ugly, why were some of the most comfortable pieces of furniture such eyesores?) in an unfamiliar room.

"Is it over now?" a familiar voice asked, amused.

Tsuna sat up and looked around. Scattered on the floor were unconscious members of the Discipline Committee, as well as the limp forms of Gokudera and Yamamoto.

"It certainly seems to be, Hibari-sempai," Tsuna answered him.

"Small Animal," Hibari recognised. "What are you doing here?"

"I am not sure, Hibari-sempai," Tsuna admitted freely as she stood up from the couch. "The last thing I remember was my insane tutor saying that he had just poisoned me. I suppose the two idiots brought me here, rather than taking me to the nurse's office. Please excuse me, if the idiots inconvenienced you, Hibari-sempai."

Hibari gave a very small smile at that.

"This one," he said, and kicked Yamamoto's leg lightly, "has good reflexes, though he guards his right side. Baseball team?" he checked.

"Hai," Tsuna said as she nodded in confirmation, and moved to start checking over all of the unconscious people. "Did you hit either of the idiots – who have, unfortunately, attached themselves to me – in the head, Hibari-sempai?" Tsuna asked as she continued to check every head for any lumps.

"Iie," Hibari denied.

"Thank you. It's hard enough trying to get them to not be idiots, without them taking hits to the head," Tsuna complained.

"Perhaps head-trauma would improve them," Hibari suggested.

Tsuna bit down on a giggle. "Maybe it would, Hibari-sempai," she agreed with a bright, almost-innocent smile, then bent to drag the two idiots to the window. "But permanent damage to the students of Nimimori Middle would be bad, and head-trauma is very difficult to get just right."

"Ah," Hibari agreed unhappily, and stepped up to grab the nearest two unconscious bodies by their collars and begin dragging them down to the nurse's office.

Tsuna pulled one of the lighter looking ones over her shoulders. She didn't want to risk giving any boy a view up her skirt if he woke up en-route.

~oOo~

"Itadakimas," Tsuna said as she sat down with her breakfast.

A small hand reached over and grabbed the plate that her fried eggs were on.

"Oi!" Tsuna snapped. "Reborn! Those were my eggs!" He didn't deserve an honorific when he'd just committed food-theft.

"In the Mafia world, each man claims his own food. The early bird gets the worm," Reborn replied with a bland little smile. He proceeded to then steal her croissant as well.

"Oh, so Mafia men all have abysmal manners?" Tsuna snapped back angrily. "Mama, from now on, can we make Reborn cook his own food?" she requested, even as she stood up from the table again, disgusted with the self-proclaimed tutor.

"Ara, ara," Nana said, a little surprised by her daughter's fury. Normally her Tsu-chan was so calm and collected. "I don't think Reborn-san can reach the stove, Tsu-chan."

"I'm training you," Reborn insisted. "I'm showing you the hardships of reality."

"No, you're being an inconsiderate pig! Do you know the statistics for girls my age with eating disorders?" Tsuna demanded harshly as she cracked another egg into the still-hot pan. "And don't you talk to me about early birds when Mama and I have been up for an hour before you dragged your free-loading arse down here and stole _my_ food!"

Tsuna had made her bento already, as well as dusted everything and sorted her laundry before she managed to snake her way into the bathroom to have her morning shower before Bianchi used all the hot water or Lambo made himself comfortable on the toilet with a comic. Her breakfast, and then brushing her teeth, were the last things before she had to go to school.


	2. Chapter 2

It was the turn of Tsuna's class to clean the hallway on their floor of the school once most of the other students were gone. It was a nuisance, but there was a roster, so no single class had to do the chore too often, just like individuals took their turns doing cleaning chores in the classrooms at the end of the day.

The cleaning was somewhat interrupted by a child in a red shirt. The kid had a handkerchief of belongings tied to the end of a stick, which was carried over one shoulder, and a photograph.

"I'm sorry," Tsuna said as she squatted down to get a better look at the picture. "But I don't think this person is Japanese at all. I don't think you will be likely to find them in Namimori."

The child frowned, and muttered something in a language that wasn't Japanese. Tsunahime's Mandarin was admittedly accented, and she still had a way to go before she reached a mastery of the language, but it was passable for a conversation, so long as it wasn't an overly long and detailed one.

She repeated herself in the language that the child (a little girl, unless Tsuna missed her guess) clearly knew better.

" _My name is Sawada Tsunahime_ ," she introduced herself, still using Mandarin. " _What's your name_?"

"I-Pin," the child (yep, definitely a girl) answered. " _You look very much like the target to I-Pin_ ," the child added with a considering frown.

" _Your photograph is of a man. I am a girl in middle school_ ," Tsuna said, giggling as she tried to remember the right words and orders. " _I think I-Pin might need glasses_."

I-Pin blushed, but nodded in acknowledgement of that truth.

" _I know my Mandarin isn't very good_ ," Tsuna apologised. " _But I know someone who is much more fluent. I will take you to him, and I am sure he can help. Okay_?"

I-Pin thought about it a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Tsuna picked I-Pin up, slung the child onto her hip, and excused herself to Hana and Kyoko.

"Small Animal," Hibari recognised as she approached him.

"Please forgive my intrusion, Hibari-sempai," Tsuna requested politely. "But this small one is lost, in desperate need of glasses, and speaks Mandarin. I hoped you might be able to call her guardian, to arrange for her to be collected and taken home?"

Hibari's eyes narrowed minutely, just for a moment, as he took in the child on Tsuna's hip.

"Come quickly," he instructed, then turned and marched off. Marched. There was no running in the halls, even for Hibari.

Soon, they were in the Discipline Committee's designated room. Hibari had crossed the room in two great strides, and was on the phone almost faster than Tsuna could blink. He hadn't even asked for a phone number, but already the Mandarin was flying thick and fast.

 _Ting_.

Tsuna looked down, and was surprised to see that the source of that sound seemed to be the girl she was holding. A set of nine circles had appeared on I-Pin's forehead.

 _Ting_.

Now there were eight.

Hibari yelled into the phone. Actually yelled. Then he set it down, and stepped up to Tsuna – or, more accurately, stepped up to I-Pin. He placed a hand on her forehead, took a deep breath, and in Mandarin that Tsuna didn't understand, he chanted something. Before, she hadn't been able to follow because Hibari was talking too fast, though she'd caught a few words, as well as a phrase here and there. This, she just didn't recognise.

"Ah... Hibari-sempai?" Tsuna queried.

"I-Pin is my uncle's student," Hibari stated, clearly unhappy about something. "He wants me to take care of her for him."

That would be what had upset Hibari.

Tsuna bit her lip, and for a moment she debated between offering her help, and teasing.

"It will be good practice," slipped out of her mouth before she'd even made a conscious decision one way or the other. "For when you become a father."

"Small Animal," Hibari said in a warning tone.

"Hibari-sempai," Tsuna said, and though the words were softly spoken, they were filled with resolve. "... will be a much better father to his children, than Sawada Iemitsu had ever been to me."

The tension shifted, but it definitely did not get any lighter. Then, Hibari sighed.

"You will make bento for her each day," Hibari instructed. Clearly, resigned to having to take care of his uncle's student. That didn't make him any happier about it though. "She's old enough to be enrolled in Namimori Elementary. The tiny herbivore will need lunches."

"For Hibari-sempai as well?" Tsuna asked with a small, hopeful smile.

Without a twitch, Hibari's fearsome expression softened, just the tiniest bit.

"Make sure it has meat."

~oOo~

Tsuna was on her way home from school. Well, actually, she was on her way home from Hibari's house. He was prepared to launder his own clothes – that is, he took his uniforms to the dry-cleaner and threw his underwear in the machine – but he wouldn't do the same for his new charge. This would be the third load of laundry that Tsuna would do for I-Pin. It had been a month since the little girl showed up – and an almost peaceful one.

Gokudera still loudly prostrated himself and failed at using his ears properly when Tsuna spoke, and Yamamoto was still painfully happy-go-lucky, but Lambo was calming down with school and friends (he wasn't walking back with her today because he was playing at a friend's house), and Hana and Kyoko were also both as they always were, which was a boon. Kyoko, bright and cheerful as the sun. Hana, sure of herself and unrelenting in the face of opposition – which almost always crumbled before her.

Yes, her friends were definitely a boon in the face of pervasive idiocy. Tsuna wasn't about to call all men 'monkeys' like Hana, or all people in general 'herbivores' like Hibari, but she would definitely call 'idiot' when she saw it.

When she turned into her street, she noticed that there were a lot more people standing about than there usually were. As she got closer, she realised that they were all foreign men wearing matching suits and hanging around outside of her house. Great. Just great. They didn't look like professional bodyguards, even with the matching suits. They looked like thugs that were part of an organisation that had a dress-code.

In short?

It was a damn good thing that the average Japanese person associated 'organised crime' with 'Yakuza', and not with 'Mafia', or this – whatever was going on here – would be a heck of a lot more problematic. As it was, Tsuna fully intended to chew out somebody, she didn't care who, about their lack of subtlety.

And then it got worse. Because the men in suits noticed her, and snapped to attention in very straight lines on either side of the street.

"Welcome home, Mistress Sawada Tsunahime," the nearest of the men on the left said.

She took a deep breath, and started walking.

"Do up your jacket," she instructed as she past the man. "You too," she quipped to one on the opposite line. "Take out that ridiculous _thing_ you have hanging from your eyebrow," she snapped at a third man. "Your tie is crooked," she informed yet another as she walked up between the two lines to her front gate. At which point she turned around and looked up and down both lines. "And for goodness sake, all of you stop standing around and looking so conspicuous! You're all about as subtle as an elephant in drag."

A few backs stiffened, but not all. Tsuna would guess that the ones that hadn't reacted were the ones that didn't speak Japanese.

She turned and headed inside.

"Welcome home, Tsu-chan," Nana greeted with a smile.

"I'm home, Mama," Tsuna agreed with a smile of her own as she toed off her shoes. "I've brought laundry from Hibari-sempai to do."

"Oh my. Again?" Nana asked, surprised. "But he has always been such a self-reliant young man before. It is so strange that he is suddenly relying on you to make bento and do laundry for him."

"Hibari-sempai is looking after a young girl for his uncle," Tsuna explained. Honestly, she was a bit surprised that it had taken her mother this long to ask. On the other hand, Sawada Nana could be more than a bit vague in the head about some things. "He doesn't want to wash a little girl's things. Also, he usually bought his bento. I offered to make bento for him as well as for I-Pin-chan, the girl he has care of."

"Ah! Well, go ahead and put the laundry on quickly, Tsu-chan," Nana instructed. "Then go upstairs and greet our guest."

"Our guest, or Reborn-san's?" Tsuna asked as she walked past her mother to the laundry at the end of the hall.

"Reborn-san's," Nana agreed, and gave a short, girlish laugh as she raised a hand to one cheek. "I never knew Reborn-san had such a handsome friend."

Tsuna said nothing in answer to that. As far as she was concerned, whoever it was that had invaded her home so brazenly and blatantly could wait. Granted, she had probably already kept whoever it was waiting longer than they had expected. She'd done her homework at school with Hana and Kyoko as usual, and then walked with Hibari to first Namimori Elementary to collect I-Pin, and then to Hibari's house to collect I-Pin's laundry.

I-Pin didn't mind that Hibari and Tsuna weren't at the school gates to pick her up as soon as the elementary school let out. Even the elementary school had clubs, after all, and I-Pin's Japanese was rapidly improving thanks to both her being immersed in the language and culture, and having joined the (admittedly very small) calligraphy club that was offered there.

"You're late," Reborn said when she opened her bedroom door. "We've been waiting, Tsuna."

"I don't have any appointments this afternoon," Tsuna countered. "Therefore, I am not late. Stick in your pacifier and suck it."

The two men in suits (not counting Reborn) stiffened.

"Get out of my bedroom," Tsuna growled at them. "It is my space, and I sure as hell didn't invite you into it. Now move, before I rearrange your balls."

"Yo, head of the Vongola," came from the black leather chair on the other side of the small table that had been set up in the middle of her room. "I've come all the way from Italy to visit."

"Heir apparent," Tsuna corrected. "And that was not an idle threat. I'll throw them out the window after I've kicked them in the crotch."

"Ah-ha," the leather chair's occupant laughed nervously, and it spun around to reveal a young man with messy blonde hair, brown eyes, and wearing a khaki-green jacket with a black fur collar. A handsome young man.

Sawada Tsunahime's taste in men was not the same as Sawada Nana's, however, so she was unmoved – and definitely still unimpressed.

"Boss?" one of the men checked.

"... Go."

The two men left.

"I'm the tenth-generation boss of the Cavallone Famiglia," the young man presented himself. "My name's Dino."

Tsuna blinked, then casually set her bag down on her desk, and headed for her wardrobe. She had no reason to stay in her uniform, and frankly, even with the blazer... well, it wasn't an outfit that conveyed strength at all.

No, she didn't introduce herself.

He suddenly started laughing.

"This is no good!" he cheered. "She doesn't look daring, and she's so small!"

"She also has no money, and no power," Reborn quipped with a smile.

"She's got almost zero talent as a boss," Dino said.

"Yup," Reborn agreed.

Tsuna ignored them as she picked out fresh clothes. The mafia man and the insane tutor clearly weren't leaving her bedroom any time soon though, so Tsuna headed for the door. She'd have to get changed in the bathroom.

"Oi, don't ignore your senior student," Reborn scolded.

"Don't enter my bedroom without permission," Tsuna countered blandly, and left. When she returned, dressed in a black skirt with red trim along the bottom that Hana had given her, and a purple shirt that complemented the red on the skirt, they were both still there. Tsuna continued to ignore them as she hung up her uniform in her wardrobe. Then she pulled out her desk chair and sat down.

Rather than sitting on the flat cushion on the other side of the small table to Dino's large leather chair.

"I said a lot of harsh things, but don't take it badly, Vongola Tenth," Dino said with a winsome smile. "Before I met Reborn, I had no talent for being a boss."

Tsuna, who most definitely did not have her mother's taste in men, was not even half as impressed with that smile as Nana would have been. She kept her mouth shut and her eyes coolly level – just the way Hana had taught her.

"Before I came here, I was training Dino to become a Mafia boss," Reborn confirmed.

"Reborn's lessons were no easy tasks," Dino continued. "There were many times I thought I'd die."

"Were you that pathetic, or does Reborn have different training plans for girls as opposed to boys?" Tsuna wondered.

"Both," Reborn stated plainly. "As well needing to adjust my lesson plans for a girl, Dino had exactly zero talent as a boss when I took him on as my student," Reborn declared. "Tsuna has _almost_ zero talent."

"Thanks to Reborn, I'm now a boss in charge of five-thousand families. The truth is, I wanted to learn a lot more from Reborn, but he said he had to go to you, so I saw him off," Dino said.

"How about a time-share?" Tsuna suggested. "Since I can't completely get rid of the pest, and you want him, it would make sense. I have school to worry about, and his antics upset my routine, so you can have him back from Monday to Friday."

"You're not getting rid of me that easily," Reborn informed her. "Also, Dino is staying here tonight. I've already got permission from Mama."

"Is there anything you want to ask me, my cute junior student?" Dino asked with a smile. "I'll give you advice as your senior pupil."

"How do you evict unwanted men from your bedroom?" Tsuna asked flatly.

"Ah-ha..." Dino laughed weakly, and slowly stood from his chair. "Ah... I'll just..." he tugged on the piece of furniture.

"That can stay," Tsuna interrupted him. That chair looked comfortable, and it wasn't ugly either.

~oOo~

Tsuna had so far managed to witness a situation between the boxing club and the judo club, dodged some kind of New Years Idiocy instigated by Reborn, and had survived going to the zoo at the same time as Gokudera. (She hadn't gone with him, but he'd been there at the same time, and for some stupid reason he'd blown up a couple of the animal cages. Yes, Lambo continually fell into the cages, and I-Pin was, for some reason, doing katas with the monkeys, and Sasagawa-sempai had been there shouting about wanting to fight a bear, but all of that would have been fine, if only the bomber hadn't let the animals _out of their cages_!)

She'd also had the absolute pleasure of introducing Miura Haru to Dino of the Cavallone.

She was really very taken with the idea of marrying a Mafia boss, and Dino had impressed her – Tsuna didn't know how, and didn't care to know the details. She'd only introduced them.

It had actually been a stalling tactic, so that she'd be able to get to school without any further interruptions from either of them. Tsuna had left them alone pretty much immediately after she'd introduced them to one another. Truly, she had no idea what had happened. She had, subsequently, become somewhat friends with the girl. They'd gone to the zoo together with Kyoko and Hana, even. They weren't that close, Miura-chan went to a different school, but they were becoming friends.

But now, with snow on the ground and only fluffy white clouds in the sky, and no school, it was a good day to take some time to relax and have some fun.

Tsunahime got her chores around the house done before breakfast, packed a basket while she ate – she'd long since decided to not bother sitting down to eat when Reborn was around – and then she made a couple of phone calls.

"Oh, are you going out, Tsu-chan?" Nana asked with a smile.

"Mm," Tsuna confirmed with a smile of her own and a pleased nod. "I've called some of my friends, and we're going to have a picnic in the snow, and a snowball fight."

"Snowball fight?" Lambo repeated eagerly.

"Lambo-kun, I also called the parents of some of the friends you've made at Namimori Elementary, and I'll be dropping you off with the Ichijoujis on my way to see my friends. You'll be going to the park together, and you'll meet the Yoshidas and the Kusakabes there, and the Kusakabes will have I-Pin-chan with them. Now, go and put on some warm clothes, okay? You wouldn't want to catch cold."

"Okay, Tsuna-onee-san!" Lambo cheered happily, and ran off to do just that. "Yay! Snow ball fights! Snow men! Snow..." his cheering faded as he skipped down the hall and closed his bedroom door while he got dressed for a day out.

When Tsuna got to the school, where she had agreed with her friends to meet up for their picnic in the snow (large open spaces of undisturbed powder, but also with plenty of convenient places for shelter), the group waiting for her... wasn't exactly what she had expected.

Gokudera, Yamamoto, Cavallone, Miura, both of the Sasagawa siblings, and Reborn were there. Of that list, Tsuna had only anticipated maybe Kyoko being present.

"Yo, Sawada-chan!" Yamamoto called in greeting. "We all agreed to meet up today and help you watch the kids."

It was well-known around the school that Tsuna had care of Lambo, and did certain chores for Hibari in regards to I-Pin.

"Jyuudaime shouldn't have to put up with the loud cow-brat on her own all the time," Gokudera said firmly.

"Lambo-kun and I-Pin-chan are playing with some of their friends, under the supervision of the parents of those friends, at the park," Tsuna informed the crowd. "And I have plans."

"J-Jyuudaime!" Gokudera called desperately.

"A boss must be able to adapt in the face of the unexpected," Reborn lectured.

"Fine. All of you, pair up, then find somewhere around the school to build a snow-fort. We'll start launching snowballs in..." Tsuna checked her watch. "An hour. That should give plenty of time to build a good fort. Rules are: snow only! No stones, no sticks, and _no dynamite, Gokudera-san!_ No poison, no whips, no wires. No turtles. Give Enzo to one of your subordinates, Cavallone. If it is not snow, and only snow, then you are disqualified."

"How should we pair up?" Dino asked, smiling and more than willing to go along. His question seemed to be directed at Reborn, rather than Tsuna. "Japan has its own traditions for picking teams, right?" That was directed at Haru.

"Hahi! Usually janken or drawing straws," Haru answered cheerfully.

"I've already designated teams," Reborn said, and unrolled a piece of paper. He was wearing a samurai costume.

"There are so many things wrong with that outfit," Tsuna informed him as she confiscated the list and tore it up.

"But I spent all night making it," Reborn countered, "considering the balance and things, so I didn't sleep much. See, I have dark circles under my eyes!" he said, and pointed. Yes, there actually were dark circles under his eyes.

"That is your own fault, and the dark circles don't make the outfit any more right," Tsuna scolded in turn. "You most definitely do not have any sympathy from me."

"Hahaha!" Yamamoto laughed. "Sawada-chan is so cold!"

"Miura-chan and Cavallone-san are one team, both of the Sasagawas are another, Gokudera-san and Yamamoto-san are another team. Reborn-san is on his own unless Bianchi-san shows up, in which case, she'll be on his team. There, done," Tsuna said, and clapped her hands firmly. Incidentally, scattering the scraps of paper.

"But -! Jyuudaime!" Gokudera objected. "What about you? Why can't I be on your team? Why do I have to be with this baseball idiot?"

"My team will be arriving shortly," Tsuna informed him plainly. "I told you, I had plans for today, I am adapting them, but still. And you are paired with Yamamoto-san because you're both about the same intelligence level, so far as I have seen. Pairs, go, build your forts. You have one hour to make yourselves secure."

"So in control, Vongola," Dino praised.

Tsuna waved them off as she pulled her phone out and headed towards another part of the school. She had to let her friends know about this... addition... to their plans.

~oOo~

Reborn had dragged – literally dragged – Tsunahime out of Namimori to the mountains. Tsuna, for her part, had very conscientiously decided that, rather than letting the pint-sized hitman/tutor bully her into doing whatever he wanted, she would hitch-hike back home.

Lambo, I-Pin, and Hibari-sempai had all caught colds, and while Sawada Nana was able to care for Lambo, Hibari and I-Pin didn't have anybody to take care of them and make sure they didn't get worse.

There was also the preparations she needed to make for Valentine's day. She had to make chocolate for her friends, and... well, some of them had high standards and very particular tastes.


	3. Chapter 3

Tsuna felt her smile fall right off her face when she opened her bedroom door to find a young boy, probably ten years old, sitting at her table in the middle of her room.

"Clearly, I need to install locks on my door and window," Tsuna grumbled. "Kid, out."

"But... Tsuna-onee-san, please..." the child begged.

"Whatever it is, it can be talked about in the lounge room, where guests are supposed to sit, and not in my bedroom, which is supposed to be my private space," Tsuna ordered, and pointed firmly out of her door. Tsuna was also going to talk to her mother about letting people into her room, just in case the kid had been shown up by Nana, rather than sneaked in. "Out."

Once Tsuna had gotten changed, had a quick chat to her mother, and made herself a cup of tea, she went to sit across from the boy who had – as instructed – taken a seat in the lounge room.

"Alright Kid, now, who are you, and what do you want?" Tsuna asked, blunt, but not unkind.

"My name is Fuuta," the boy said. A name completely incongruous with his distinctly European looks. "The Mafia is after me."

"Of course they are," Tsuna groused with a sigh. "Why?"

"He's also known as 'Ranking Fuuta'," Reborn said as he hopped up onto another chair. "He's an information specialist who has no equal when creating a ranking. Fuuta's ranking accuracy is one-hundred percent. Meaning, if one were to use his ranking book to create a strategy, he could win any battle, and it would be easy to take over the world."

"So, are the Mafia after the kid, who clearly needs to learn to lie, or the book, which he shouldn't have made in the first place?" Tsuna checked. "Because if they're just after the book, then we should probably burn it somewhere that the Mafia after the boy can see."

"That would just make them more likely to go after Fuuta himself," Reborn pointed out, even as Fuuta wrapped his arms around the book protectively.

"So follow the burning with blatantly inaccurate rankings," Tsunahime said with a shrug. "If you want to be safe from people who want to use you for your ability to rank things, then you're going to have to _stop_ ranking things, or stop writing them down at least. I'm sorry, I can tell that the book is precious to you, but it really isn't sensible to write those sorts of things down."

"But I forget them if I don't," Fuuta protested.

Tsuna shrugged.

"But why do you need to remember?" she countered.

"Ah, and this is why Sawada Tsunahime-onee-san is ranked number one for solving conflicts without committing direct violence..." Fuuta said weakly as he clutched his book very tightly to his chest. He clearly didn't like the idea of burning it. Tears sprung up in his eyes as he slowly, shakily, handed over the book of rankings. "Thank you, Tsuna-onee-san."

~oOo~

People were being hospitalised. The captain of the kendo club was first, then the captain of the judo club, then Sasagawa Ryohei who was also captain of the boxing club, and many more. All of the victims were strong fighters who attended Namimori Middle. Even a few members of the Discipline Committee were being taken to the hospital.

Tsunahime spent a lot of money on flowers that weekend, and a lot of time at the hospital. Then again, a lot of people were spending time at the hospital. A lot more as concerned friends, than as the injured, thankfully.

"Hm? What's this?" Tsuna asked when she returned home from visiting at the hospital. There were a lot of flyers on the kitchen table. "Judo, kendo, aikido..." There were more than just those on the flyers as well.  
"Which do you think is best, Tsu-chan?" Nana asked.

"Are you going to learn one, Mama?"

"No, but I'd like you to learn one. With all the violence going on right now, I worry," Nana explained. "You should be able to protect yourself."

"Ah, I see. Except that in this instance, that would seem to be counter-productive," Tsuna pointed out, even as she bent to look over the flyers again. "The people getting beat up are only those who have invested their time and effort into learning how to fight. Becoming proficient might make me a target, rather than keep me safe."

"I'd like to ask Ranking Fuuta which of these styles would be best suited to you," Reborn added thoughtfully. "Unfortunately, he's disappeared."

"He ranked me as number one for solving conflicts without committing direct violence, remember?" Tsuna prompted him with a narrow look. "And if he's missing, maybe that should concern you more than which fighting style you think I should be learning."

"You don't hesitate to use violence on Gokudera," Reborn countered.

"That's negative reinforcement," Tsuna quibbled. "If he fails to remember something I told him, he gets punished. It was obvious from the beginning that he won't listen to words that aren't backed up with action. Negative reinforcement is not the same as direct violence."

"And your first confrontation with him?" Reborn prodded. "Your threats to Dino and his men?"

"Extreme negative reinforcement. Initially developed for extreme cases. Incidentally, it is also extremely effective."

~oOo~

My Dear Vongola the Tenth,

I've heard from Reborn about how much you've grown. It seems like the time has come for you to take the next step. I am giving you an order: capture Mukuro Rokudo and the other two escapees and rescue their captive.

I wish you luck.

Vongola the Ninth.

PS. If you refuse, you'll be treated as a traitor and will be killed.

~oOo~

Tsunahime considered the letter that Reborn had brought back from his flying visit to Italy. The pint-sized hitman had confirmed that the person who was terrorising Namimori was actually someone who had been kicked out of the Mafia.

And now she was being told to clean up after their messes – or die.

"Well," Tsuna said as she passed the letter – it was in Italian, not Japanese, but the language was something that Reborn had been tutoring her in since he'd arrived – back to Reborn. "That is certainly interesting."

"Oh?" Reborn pressed.

"Did you, or did you not, tell me when you arrived that I was the last viable heir to the Vongola?" Tsuna reminded the hitman.

"Ah, yes, I did," Reborn confirmed.

"Which means that, if I am killed, Vongola would be without a viable heir," Tsuna pointed out.

Reborn didn't blink. His expression went very suddenly blank though. Tsuna's private theory about Reborn not having eyelids at all gained a little more credence.

"I'm beginning to wonder if that isn't what the Ninth actually wants," Tsuna mused thoughtfully.

"What makes you think he would want that?" Reborn demanded.

Tsuna shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems suspicious to me. Maybe he doesn't want to share the power, maybe he wants the Vongola to fall, maybe he wants to live forever and rule the Vongola forever. I don't know. It's definitely suspicious though, that I'm the only living heir, and he's ordering me into a life-or-death situation, with the threat of death if I don't comply."

"Hm... Tsuna -"

"I'll go," she cut him off. "I'm worried about Hibari-sempai. He should have been back by now, regardless of what this Rokudo person did to get kicked out of the Mafia. And the vice-chair of the Discipline Committee, Kusakabe-sempai, had both legs broken and was badly concussed just outside of the hospital not long ago."

"Mukuro killed an entire Famiglia."

"Is that all?" Tsuna asked, surprised. "I'd think that would have the various Mafia Families clamouring to welcome and claim him. Huh... and yet, he's left every one of the Namimori students alive. Nearly critical in some cases, but still... Huh."

~oOo~

"Kyoko-chan."

"Tsuna-chan?"

"You know your brother lied about how he hurt himself."

"Hai. He was beaten up by somebody."

"Feel like returning the favour?"

"... Hai."

~oOo~

"Hana-chan."

"Tsuna-chan."

"Strap on your stilettos."

"Haa?"

"There are some monkeys that need to be taught not to throw their shit."

"Hm," Hana hummed with a smirk.

~oOo~

"Miura-chan?"

"Hahi! Oh, Sawada-chan! How are you? I've heard about all the violence, desu. It seems that... that... your school is being targeted."

"Yes. I've found out who's doing it. Will you help me?"

"Hahi? Help you? Sawada-chan, what are you going to do, desu?"

"Repay them in kind. The people who did it got kicked out of the Mafia, but they haven't killed anybody here yet. I'd like to keep it that way, and teach them the error of their ways."

"Oh. Okay! Haru will help, desu!"

~oOo~

"Yamamoto-san."

"Oh, Sawada-chan!"

"You've noticed that some people aren't playing by the rules of polite society, ne?"

"Mm. All those people in the hospital..."

"Please collect the special bat that Reborn-san gave you. We're going to put these people in a time-out."

"Hahaha! Sure thing, Sawada-chan!"

"Rules for engagement with the opposing side are to give no quarter. Beat them the way they have beaten our friends."

"Ah, so," Yamamoto said, and that lightness, that joking attitude, faded from the boy's eyes in favour of a cold hardness. "I understand, Sawada-san."

~oOo~

"Bianchi-san."

"Tsunahime."

"I see that they already got Gokudera-san."

"They did."

"Big sister prerogative?"

"They will regret ever laying a finger on my little brother. If you tell him I said that, however..."

"My lips are sealed."

~oOo~

"Jyuudaime, I'm coming too!"

"You're in no fit state."

"I'm coming! As your right-hand man -!"

"Yare yare. I've told you before. That position is already taken. I'd slap you for being an idiot, but you're bad enough off already."

"I'm coming with you, Jyuudaime!"

"I'm going to get one of the doctors to strap you down to the bed."

"Jyuudaime!"

"And maybe ask them to put you in a room with Sasagawa-sempai."

"Jyuudaime..."

~oOo~

"Mama."

"Oh, Tsu-chan. You're wearing a very serious face."

"I need you to mind Lambo-kun and I-Pin-chan. I-Pin is actually a skilled fighter, but she's also only five, and Hibari-sempai is... missing."

"Ah, I see. We'll stay in and do colouring."

"Thank you, Mama. Reborn-san! Are you coming?"

~oOo~

The first ones were tall, bald, ugly, and not very smart. They'd followed Kyoko and Haru, for some reason. Possibly someone thought they would be good hostages down the line.

Haru attacked her tail with her hockey stick. She cracked it down very firmly across the back of his neck. There was a distinct crunch. He was still breathing, but he was definitely not getting up. In response to this, Reborn gave Haru a steel hockey stick, much like the baseball bat that he had given to Yamamoto.

Kyoko had grabbed the shotgun her father kept in his office, in case of burglars, and shot out both kneecaps of her assailant, and then his shoulders as well. For a while, she stood over him and just watched him bleed out. Reborn gave her a bandoleer loaded up with appropriate rounds for the large gun.

The third one, well, they met him at the former Kokuyo Centre, where the fugitives from Mafia Law were hiding out. Bianchi had melted the rusted lock on the gate with her poisonous cooking (seriously, the stuff could eat through metal as well as the lining of your stomach), and they'd gone in the front way.

Yamamoto had noticed something that looked like animal footprints in the dirt, and had been surprised into falling backwards quite hard when the one who made the footprints leapt out of some nearby bushes.

The generally happy-go-lucky jock fell through a weak spot they hadn't known was there, crashing through into the conservatory that had been buried by a long-ago landslide. His attacker gleefully jumped in after him. Haru was standing a little too near though, and tumbled down as well.

"Hahi!" she wailed as she fell.

"Yamamoto-san, Miura-chan, are you alright?" Tsuna called down.

"We're a little bumped and bruised, but more dirty than injured," Yamamoto called back.

"That will change soon," an unfamiliar voice informed the pair.

"Hahi?" Haru yelped, and brought her hockey stick to bear.

"It seems that our foe is in here with us," Yamamoto noted as he also took out his piece of special sporting equipment. "I don't see very well in the dark," he admitted softly as he flexed his fingers around the grip of his baseball bat.

"Neither, desu. Back to back, or bait and switch?" Miura suggested.

"Both," Yamamoto suggested as he tugged her out of the way of their charging assailant.

"Reborn-san, I don't care who you have to call, I want more background on these people," Tsuna informed her tutor, voice soft as she watched the fight going on down below. "No person comes by that kind of... that's not natural. At all."

"Dino sent us what he did as a favour to a junior pupil of mine," Reborn countered. "I'm not likely to be able to get the information you want so cheaply as that."

"Bill the Ninth," Tsuna growled.

Yamamoto had the majority of the bruises, but Miura had been bitten. It wasn't bad – she had pulled on her sport padding and even a couple of pieces of samurai armour, as well as grabbing her hockey stick – but a couple of teeth had dug into a bit of her arm that hadn't been protected and managed to break the skin, which was definitely unhygienic. Kyoko had come prepared for injuries though. With her brother being such an enthusiastic fighter, she always carried bandages – just so she could re-wrap his hands – but for this outing, she had brought a full first-aid kit. Which included an antiseptic spray.

"Sorry for letting you get hurt, Miura-chan," Yamamoto apologised sincerely as the girl winced at the sting of the spray.

"It's fine," Miura assured him, and waved off the apology with the hand that hadn't been injured, and wasn't being bandaged. "Just a scratch, desu. It isn't even Haru's dominant hand! And Yamamoto-kun was able to knock out the bad-guy because he was distracted trying to chew on Haru!"

~oOo~

"I play the clarinet," Hana stated blandly when they were confronted by the next... pawn of Rokudo Mukuro.

Their opponent was dressed in a Kokuyo school uniform, carried a clarinet that apparently made atoms vibrate dangerously, and had introduced herself as M.M.

"That instrument should not be able to do what she is making it do," Hana asserted. "It is an offence to not only music, but also to logic and physics."

While M.M's weapon offended Hana, the red-head's little digression about money being the most important thing insulted Bianchi. The girl checked her stilettos, and the woman leapt over the table they'd ducked behind after the first attack.

While Bianchi charged, with two trays of poison cooking in hand to act as a shield, Hana followed behind just as swiftly, in the shadow of the older woman.

"That's enough!" Bianchi ordered, and threw the two trays, one after the other, at the red-head with the clarinet.

She had to stop playing to dodge.

"Short cake!" Bianchi... summoned. There was no way she was hiding that thing in her tiny little bag. For that matter, she shouldn't have been able to fit the two trays of food she'd used as shields in there either.

"Wah!" M.M yelped as she dodged, then she smirked. "Did you really think I'd scream?" she demanded, and twisted her clarinet. It came apart, as any clarinet should when twisted that way, but it didn't come apart properly. There were chain links holding the sections of the instrument together.

The woodwind instrument had just been turned into a three-piece nun-chuck.

"I'm good at close-range combat as well!" M.M declared as she whipped the weaponised instrument out as the rose-haired woman.

"Bianchi-san," Hana warned.

Bianchi moved to the side.

Hana moved in, and caught the chains holding the sections of clarinet together around the toe of one shoe. The with other, she slashed the sharpened, pointy heel across her opponent's face, at the level of her eyebrows. A truly impressive kick.

"Ah!" the red-head screamed in pain.

Hana wrenched the clarinet from M.M's hold, and Bianchi shoved a biscuit down the girl's throat before she kicked her firmly in the gut. M.M went flying into the wall of the nearby building. If she got up again within the next ten hours, without help, that would be an impressive thing.

"Ooooh-ji-ji-ji," a creaky old voice laughed from nearby.

As if pulled by a string, six heads turned to face the one who made that sound.

"I'm quite glad you got rid of that avaricious girl," said an old man with a cane, glasses, and two yellow canaries perched on his person – one on his left shoulder, the other on his hat.

"No friendships among felons," Tsuna quipped.  
"Now now," the old man said with a wide, oily smile. "Calm down and look at this," he bid, and held up a remote. He clicked it, and two images appeared on the wall beside him.

"Oh, those guys!" Kyoko recognised.

"That's right, your friends are being targeted by a pair of cute hitmen, serial killers who are loyal to me," the old man said. "The Bloody Twins."

Glances were exchanged.

"Hey, old man," Yamamoto called over. "Have you looked at that footage?"

"Bloody does describe them, but probably not for the reason you mean it to," Tsuna added.

It was dented and broken forms of the two that Haru and Kyoko had already defeated.

"Eh?!" the old man yelped. He turned to see what they were talking about, and started to shake when he realised that he did not, in fact, have hostages to bargain with. "Ah... Rokudo-san's mission levels are too high. Please excuse me..."

Tsuna laced her fingers, pushed the palms out to crack all of the joints, rolled her neck and shoulders, and stepped up to the old man. She swiped his walking stick from him, then kicked out at his legs, so that he fell down. Then she pressed the butt of the walking stick into the old man's neck.

"You are not excused," Tsuna informed him plainly, then reversed her hold on the walking stick and used it as a tool of negative reinforcement.

The old man was fragile, which was probably why he went for hostages. He was easily concussed and rendered unconscious.


	4. Chapter 4

"What's an old guy like that doing wearing a middle school uniform, anyway, desu?" Miura questioned, disturbed.

"They broke out of prison with Mukuro," Reborn answered.

"There were other escapees with Mukuro, and we weren't told about this sooner... why?" Hana demanded.

"According to Dino, the prison break was caused by Mukuro and his close friends, plus M.M, Birds, and the Twins. We knew about the others," Reborn explained, "but we didn't imagine that they would have rendezvoused."

"You didn't imagine," Tsuna repeated, incredulous.

"But Dino said these guys didn't matter," Reborn said with a deliberately pathetic expression.

"And they were all pathetically easy to deal with," Tsuna acknowledged. "But knowing in advance that we would have to deal with them would have been helpful. On that note, is there anything else you've been keeping back? Any more people we're going to have to face that we weren't told about until after the fact?"

"There is," Bianchi said as she looked pointedly at a particular bit of the flora that had cropped up since the Kokuyo Centre had closed down. "Stop hiding and come out!"

A mop of sandy hair peeked out from around a tree.

"It's me," the child said, a sorry, worried look on his face as he stepped more clearly into view.

"Fuuta-kun," Tsuna recognised. "Strange kid, but harmless," she assured her friends who hadn't met him. "Well, in and of himself," she corrected herself. "You're the one who made the list of the strongest fighters at Namimori, aren't you Fuuta-kun? That's how Rokudo knew who to target."

"I'm sorry, Tsuna-onee-san," Fuuta apologised. "I did. You need to stay away, Tsuna-onee-san. I can't go back with you."

"Yare yare," Tsuna sighed as the boy ran. "Miura-chan, will you go after him?"

"Sure thing, Sawada-chan!" Haru chirped.

~oOo~

"You will not defeat me," declared a man with a very large metal ball on the end of a very thick chain. He matched the picture that Reborn had supplied.

"You're -" Yamamoto started.

"Rokudo Mukuro," Kyoko finished.

"What did you do with Fuuta?" Bianchi demanded.

"I don't know any Fuuta," the man said, and started casually twirling the massive ball and chain around. He was definitely not a weakling.

"Then you are not Rokudo Mukuro," Tsuna said. She refused to be intimidated by the show of strength, and focused on what actually mattered. Incidentally, once more living up to her high ranking for being inclined to try solving conflicts without committing violence.

The man jolted in surprise where he stood. A clear give-away that Tsunahime had it right. As if that weren't enough, he dropped his metal ball right down next to him with a great crunching thud as it cracked the concrete.

"A fake?!" Bianchi yelped.

"But... you were the one in that prison photo," Yamamoto objected.

"The real Mukuro would never allow himself to be recorded like that," the man said, "and he... is the one who took everything from me."

"And yet, you work for him," Hana stated.

"What is your real name? Or shall I just call you 'Pawn Number -', what are we up to, Hana-chan?"

"Gokudera did a mutual KO with one. Miura-chan and Kyoko-chan got the second and third, Yamamoto got the fourth with Miura-chan's help when we got here. Bianchi-san and I dealt with the fifth, and you got the last one," Hana counted off.

"Right. 'Pawn Number Seven', then," Tsuna said with a nod.

"My name is Lancia. I was the strongest bodyguard in northern Italy!" the man insisted vehemently. "And that... that... _brat_ that my family took in -! He... controlled me, possessed me, I don't know. He made me kill my family with my own two hands!"

"And yet, you still work for him," Hana said again.

"What choice do I have?" Lancia bemoaned.

"Good question. Reborn-san? What choices does he have?" Tsuna asked.

His options turned out to include being attacked by the same person who had taken out Gokudera – from a distance, so immediate and direct confrontation wasn't an option.

"Sawada -!" Bianchi said, a strain in her neck. The desire to exact sisterly vengeance pumping through her veins.

"Go."

~oOo~

"I wonder if they destroyed the stairwells, or if they crumbled on their own," Hana mused when they found the first impassable stairwell.

"Either, both," Tsuna said with a shrug.

"They're choosing our path for us," Reborn said, his tone both firm and unhappy. "It's easier for them to defend against us if they limit the number of paths between us. On the other hand, they need to be able to flee as well. They'll be prepared for a fight."

"He," Kyoko corrected. "Bianchi-san is chasing one of the able-bodied accomplices, and we've left everybody else in no condition to join the fight. There is only Rokudo Mukuro left."

"Unless there's someone else you haven't told us about," Hana added with a scowl at Reborn.

"No one else," Reborn confirmed, just a little sheepishly.

"Alright, then since there's four of us, not counting Reborn, and only one enemy, I think we should be safe to split up," Tsuna decided. "Yamamoto-san, please give Hana-chan a boost."

Kyoko was boosted up onto the edge of the broken stairwell after that, but when Yamamoto braced at the third one, Tsuna shook her head.

"You next," she corrected as she spread her stance and laced her fingers together, so that they made a firm, braced platform that Yamamoto would be able to use as a spring to launch himself up. "I'm going to follow the path they want me to take."

"Sawada-chan..." the tall baseball enthusiast said softly, awed. Then he smiled. "Okay!"

Once Yamamoto was gone, Tsuna reached into one of her pockets, and pulled out something that she'd picked up back when Hana was being boosted up. It was a phone. A simple, black, flip-phone. Damaged, and it had been dusty when she picked it up, but it wasn't completely broken. It belonged to Hibari.

He would never leave his belongings lying about like that on purpose. Which meant that he had to be somewhere nearby.

"Tsuna," Reborn called. He was sticking with her, rather than tagging along with any of her friends and keeping them safe. Then again, he was her tutor, not theirs.

Tsuna tucked the phone back into her pocket.

"Sawada!"

"Ah, Bianchi-san. You have your vengeance?"

"Yes," the rose-haired woman confirmed as she jogged up and came to a halt in front of Tsuna and Reborn. "That boy with the yo-yo shouldn't be waking up for at least twenty-four hours, and I may have broken a few of his bones as well."

Tsuna smiled at that.

Bianchi blinked. "Sawada, Reborn... where are the others?" she asked.

"Since there is only Rokudo left, and since so many of the stairwells have been destroyed, we split up," Tsuna explained. "I'll be taking the rout that they have left intact."

"Deliberately walk into the trap, while your allies have gotten into position to pull you out if need be," Bianchi guessed, voice soft.

"Hai."

"You know, they could be turned into extra bait, if they aren't careful."

"I know."

Bianchi let herself be pushed up the next broken stairway.

Tsuna kept searching for a way up that wasn't destroyed.

"Midori tanabiku Namimori no~" sang a high little voice.

Tsuna looked up, seeking the source of the song, and spotted a fluffy little canary perched on the top of a dividing barrier at the bottom of a set of stairs. On the ground in front of that barrier, a pair of familiar tonfas lay.

"Hibari-sempai!" Tsuna called, and raced towards the weapons.

He would definitely never leave them behind.

"Small Animal."

The answer came from the other side of the barrier that the bird was perched on top of.

Tsunahime picked up the tonfa and put them in her bag. She pulled out a bright pink grenade. Just because she had confiscated Lambo's weapons, did not mean she had gotten rid of them. What with being involved in the Mafia now, having an explosive handy for emergencies and just-in-case seemed to her to be an eminently sensible idea.

"Fire in the hole," she called the warning as she pulled the pin, then dropped she dropped the explosive against the wall and ran back up the short stairwell to take cover.

"I could have gotten out on my own," Hibari said, once the rubble had stopped falling and the dust had cleared. "But I suppose this works."

"Please forgive me, Hibari-sempai, but you weren't getting out soon enough for my tastes, and I could help," Tsuna answered him firmly as she hurried back down the stairs to him. "Kusakabe-sempai is occupying a bed in the hospital as well," she informed him more softly as she started unbuttoning Hibari's shirt. There were red stains on it, some very dark, which meant he'd been bleeding.

Tsuna bit her lip when she saw the wounds, but pulled out the bandages she'd been carrying, and got to work.

"What did he do?" she asked softly as she carefully cleaned the first wound. "You aren't nearly hurt enough to have been defeated... he must have used some kind of trick..."

"As you say, some kind of trick," Hibari confirmed, as he obediently let his wounds be cleaned and wrapped. "It took me by surprise enough that... well. It doesn't matter now. I will not be tricked twice," he promised darkly.

"And when you have broken his body, I will break his spirit," Tsuna said in solemn agreement.

Hibari's grin was sharp and predatory.

~oOo~

"Ah, this must be the tenth Vongola," Rokudo Mukuro greeted them, his hetero-chromatic eyes fixed firmly on Tsuna, who stood behind and to the right of Hibari.

"I understand you've been looking for me," Tsuna answered calmly. "You really have gone about it all the wrong way."

"Oh?"

"Have you prepared yourself?" Hibari asked as he flexed his hands around his tonfas.

"You're very scary, but please don't get between me and Vongola. Besides, you can barely stand right now," Rokudo said, assured of his strength, and that he would be able to defeat Hibari as he had before.

"Have you prepared your last will?" Hibari asked again, and swung his tonfas threateningly.

"You say such amusing things. Very well. I'll take care of you first," Rokudo said, and stood from his seat. He pulled out a series of black tubes and clicked them together until he had a trident, as tall as his own person, in his hand. "This will only take a moment."

Blows were exchanged at great speed. It was very difficult to keep up with. They human eye and mind just didn't process that quickly.

"How long does 'a moment' last for you?" Hibari mocked, then landed the decisive blow.

Ribs cracked, and Rokudo was sent flying. He landed head-first against the edge of the small dais that a large couch was sitting on, like some kind of mockery of a royal throne.

Tsuna crossed the room and knelt over the downed form of Rokudo Mukuro. She planted one knee over his throat, and the other on one of his arms. Carefully but thoroughly, she searched him for any weapons that he might have hidden on his person that he hadn't thought to use against Hibari.

She found a pearly-white pistol, an old-fashioned single-shot thing covered in delicate scroll-work.

"Kyoko-chan, will you mind this?" Tsuna called over, and emptied the shot out of the gun.

"Hahi?" Miura yelped.

"Tsuna-chan always knows when people arrive," Kyoko said as she crossed the room from the door, so that she could collect the gun.

Hana, Yamamoto, Bianchi, and Fuuta were there as well.

"Reborn-san?" Tsuna offered the bullet to him.

"Ah," the toddler-like hitman said as he accepted the item carefully. "This is the Possession Bullet, a forbidden thing. You have to be predisposed to it -"

"I don't need the particulars right now, Reborn," Tsuna insisted softly. "I will gladly hear them, but later. There are other, more present matters to deal with."

"Such as?"

"I need some rope."

~oOo~

"Rokudo Mukuro, what do you think people are?"

"They are... toys."

"If people are toys... then I suppose, as the person in a position of power right now... that makes you _my_ toy," Tsunahime said speculatively.

Rokudo Mukuro said nothing.

"... Did you know, I used to rip the heads off my dollies when I was little? It was always by accident, I would be brushing their hair so lovingly, but then there would be a snare, and I'd just keep pulling, and tugging, and eventually their heads popped off the ball that kept the head attached to the neck," Tsunahime divulged pleasantly.

"You don't have the stones to do something like that to a person," Mukuro countered, sure of himself.

"I'm a girl, Rokudo. I don't have 'stones' at all," Tsuna countered, distinctly amused. "I have ovaries, and oestrogen, and as much as I am a caring, nurturing, forgiving and merciful sort of person, I also have a female instinct to be protective of those I care for, as well as to be vindictive in my revenge. Don't you know the poem? 'The female of the species is more deadly than the male'."

"Ara! We studied that in English class last month," Kyoko recalled.

"Maybe, since he brought it up, we could cut off his balls?" Hana said as she picked out some dirt from under her nails.

Yamamoto winced at the prospect, and crossed his legs defensively. He knew that the threat wasn't directed at him, but he was still a guy. Even Reborn grimaced and – casually, because he didn't show weakness – brought his legs together.

However...

"Insufficient," Hibari determined firmly.

"If we did that, he'd only suffer once," Tsuna offered contemplatively. "He'd also very likely bleed out fairly quickly, so he wouldn't suffer for very long either. He must be... disciplined... in direct proportion to the suffering he has caused, and how much – if any – regret he feels for those actions."

Leon, Reborn's magical chameleon (who had dropped his tail earlier and had been randomly shifting into all sorts of things for a while, before turning into something like a jelly-blob and just sticking to the back of Reborn's jacket), suddenly inflated and rose through the air to the ceiling, and lit up brighter than a disco ball.

"Reborn-san, what's going on?" Kyoko asked, bewildered.

"He's finally emerged. For some reason, he becomes a cocoon when my students are given a trial," Reborn explained. Okay, so Leon hadn't been a jelly-blob. He'd been a cocoon. "When the student grows, he emerges. He's about to spit out a new item, just for you, my student."

The chameleon spat out a pair of gloves and a riding crop, and finally reformed into his actual, usual lizard body.

"Ah, the perfect item for negative reinforcement," Tsuna said as she caught the items. She wasn't sure about the very fine grey kid gloves, but for now, she definitely had use for the crop. In any event, she'd put the gloves on as well. They were very nice gloves, with no silly trim on them at all, but it felt like... there was something about them that teased at something within her that burned hot and passionate.

It felt right wearing them.

The riding crop pulled at that inner heat as well, and Tsuna wasn't sure if she was seeing things or not, but it looked like the crop sparked orange flames when she struck Mukuro with it.

~oOo~

The Vindice arrived shortly after two of Rokudo's pawns managed to crawl their way back to be with their leader.

Tsuna stepped away from Rokudo to greet them. Hana took her place.

"If you please, I'm not finished with him yet," Tsunahime said to the tall, imposing figures with their bandage-covered features and black clothing, "and I cannot ask you to leave him, and let you take his pawns. That would be ridiculous and imbalanced."

Hana and Hibari had strung up the pawns when they arrived (crawling, weak, battered, but determined), each one tied to a tine of Rokudo's trident. Kyoko had bandaged their injuries, and asked them (very politely) which of them had been the one who hurt her brother.

The sweet sunshine girl had then very respectfully asked Hibari for an impromptu lesson in how to use tonfas. She might have used her bare fists, like her brother did, but Kyoko didn't want to have to explain to her brother why she was the one who had bloody knuckles for once.

Hibari agreed, and demonstrated a strike on one captive before he handed over the tonfas and Kyoko attempted to replicate the strike on the other – the one that had hurt her brother.

"Tsuna, you don't have the pull for this," Reborn warned. "You had better not interfere."

"You are much too late to be saying that," Hana quipped as she used the scissors from Kyoko's medical kit to shave Rokudo bald, occasionally deliberately nicking him, just as she had for the other two between their being hung up and the beginning of Kyoko's tonfa lesson. Of course, scissors were not meant for shaving, so there were a number of accidental cuts, as well as deliberate ones.

"It might not be the discipline you would give them, but I promise that it will be very effective. They will be reformed, repentant, and respectful members of society by the time I am done with them," Tsuna swore.

" **Why should we agree to such a thing?"**

"If they are my prisoners, then you won't have to feed them," Tsuna pointed out, entirely reasonable. "Besides, I was 'ordered' by Vongola to capture them, or be killed as a 'traitor' to an organisation that, to my knowledge, I never actually joined. No one said anything about handing them over. A full accounting of all crimes committed by and upon them would, however, be very much welcomed. I wouldn't like for their discipline to be too much or too little," Tsuna said with a sweet, innocent smile.

Butter wouldn't have melted in her mouth.

~oOo~

"Kusakabe-sempai? I apologise for calling so late. A man broke in through my window and... Yes, of course I hit him over the head. With my science text. Mm, the heavy one. Well, I would drag him off down to the police station myself, but I think he had a stroke or a heart-attack at the same time as I concussed him. Well, he doesn't seem to be breathing, and I can't find a pulse, but I know I didn't hit him _that_ hard. Ah, thank you so much! I owe you a month of special bentos. Well, it's the middle of the night and an awkward situation. Eh? Hibari-sempai? Well, yes, I suppose, but you know how he gets when people wake him. I'll tell him first thing in the morning, I promise. Yes... Yes... Yes sempai, I promise."


	5. Chapter 5

"Tsu-chan! We did it! We won!" Nana cheered as she flung open her daughter's bedroom door, a coloured card held aloft in her other hand.

"Eh?" Tsunahime asked as she spun around on her desk chair, glad for an excuse to take a break from her summer homework. "What did you win this time, Mama? Another year of free groceries? That was a really good prize... Or maybe a day at the amusement park? I'm sure Lambo-kun would love to go with you..."

Over the course of Tsuna's life, Sawada Nana had won forty all-expenses-paid trips to the local amusement park, thirty-one lots of dancing lessons (numbering from just one to a set of twelve, and for seventeen different dance styles), twenty-four reverse-tabs to various shops around Namimori, fifteen magazine subscriptions (free for a year), a total of four years of free groceries from the supermarket, a fishing trip, an expensive make-up kit, a night in a fancy Tokyo hotel, and tickets for two to an opera.

Nana shook her head happily.

"This was a magazine competition, not one run by the local shops," Nana corrected, which meant it would be a more 'fancy' prize.

"Another expensive make-up kit? Or do we get to see another opera?" Tsunahime asked, her smile starting to stretch as well. She and her mother shared the make-up kit, though they only used it if they were going out somewhere fancy, rather than every day – and the opera had been a really glamorous experience. Very fun.

"Better!" Nana insisted. "It's a trip to an island on a luxury cruise-liner!"

Tsuna blinked.

"I don't remember that competition," she admitted, "and I would have, because I get seasick." They had found that out on the fishing trip they'd won. Luckily, the captain of the boat they were on had some seasick pills, so Tsuna had been able to enjoy herself when they kicked in, but...

"You've only been on small boats, Tsu-chan," Nana said gently, and gently patted down Tsuna's fluffy fly-aways. "You won't feel the rocking on a big cruise-liner. It's like a floating hotel. They've got a fancy restaurant, a pool, a casino, even a concert hall!"

"Wow..." Tsuna breathed, awed.

"And then a South Sea paradise, where the tropical sun will wash away all the unwanted things in your life!" Nana swooned.

Tsuna blinked, and her smile slipped away from her face.

"Tsu-chan, what's wrong?" Nana asked, surprised by the sudden down-turn in her daughter's mood.

Tsuna smiled a little sadly.

"Troubles aren't washed away so easily, Mama," she pointed out softly.

"Mm," Nana agreed, and her own smile fell away. "Ara, and the tickets are only for two people. We couldn't leave Lambo-kun behind without anybody to care for him..."

"He has plenty of friends at the elementary school he could have a sleepover with," Tsuna pointed out. "He would probably enjoy that a lot more than being in a fancy cruise ship where people would be looking down on him just because he's a loud and mischievous little boy... How long is the holiday?"

"You should go," interjected Reborn from his (miniature) plush leather chair. He'd been supervising Tsuna as she did her homework. "Spend some quality time with your family."

Tsuna did not at all trust her tutor's wording. After all, he was trying to turn her into a Mafia boss, in charge of a 'Family'. She'd have to call everybody who might qualify, in Reborn's mind, and fully explain the situation to them. She would also be calling a few people who Reborn might think of as 'not part of the family yet', because she was very good at hiding feelings behind formality, and there were times when the man-in-toddler-form mercifully didn't dog her every step.

~oOo~

It was quite the crowd that arrived at Mafia Land – the resort island that was the ultimate destination of their cruise. As Tsuna had suspected from Reborn's comment about spending quality time with family, Reborn had arranged everything. Including the tickets that Nana had 'won'. At least Lambo had been happy to have a long sleep-over with one of his elementary school friends, so Hana didn't have to suffer a small child being underfoot. Fuuta had come, but he was ten. Hana could handle ten. Five, on the other hand... no. Definitely not.

"You can't play yet," Reborn informed Tsuna as they stood at the entrance to Mafia Land – after he'd banished members of the press that had come running and got down on their knees to beg an interview. "You have to go to the reception office and inform them of your arrival," Reborn ordered, a faint smile on his lips.

"We've all got luggage," Tsuna allowed calmly. "We should sort out rooms before anything else."

"You're our representative," Reborn clarified.

"I get it," Tsuna waved him off. "I'll take care of procedure. Everybody else gets to carry the bags though," she said, and headed for the building Reborn had pointed to.

"Next person, please," called the receptionist.

"Heir apparent of the Vongola Family, Sawada Tsunahime," Tsuna presented herself.

"Do you have a nomination or an invitation?" the woman asked.

"I'm not sure which it counts as, but you've got giant balloons of his head above the building," Tsuna answered, deliberately obliquely. "The person who arranged for my companions and me to be here."

The receptionist blinked at that, and Tsuna could just about see the gears turning in her head, and the moment the light came on as she realised exactly who Tsuna was talking about.

~oOo~ 

_Enemy Attack! Enemy Attack!_ Blared over the speakers, so that the entire resort heard. _Everyone, please evacuate to the shelter!_

Tsuna sighed, but all the same, she rolled up the towel she had been sunbathing on, and followed everyone else to the shelter.

"We, the Difo Family who run Asia, will take control of this battle," declared one guy with, quite possibly, the most ridiculous topknot known to man. Arrayed behind him were others with similar topknots, and all wearing black with the same emblem stitched on in white and black.

"No. We, the Beccio Family who uphold tradition and formality within the alliance, is fit to lead," countered a weasel-faced European man. He, and everybody with him, were wearing suits and ties.

"Hey, hey. You've got to be kidding me. What do you plan on doing without the Neuvo Family?" demanded an overweight man in a purple t-shirt, and wearing a chain (an actual chain, not a necklace, a _chain_ ) around his neck. At least he looked like he _might_ be on holiday at the resort, unless looking like a 'hood' (per American phrasing) was how he dressed all the time.

"You two, stay out of this!" snapped the Difo man.

"You wanna fight?" countered the Neuvo guy.

Tsuna reached into her handbag, pulled on her gloves, and removed her riding crop.

Gokudera and Yamamoto had come along on this particular trip, so she'd known that disciplinary measures would be required at some point. She hadn't expected to need to slap grown men just because they were being prideful.

"Sawada-hime, let me."

Tsuna blinked up at Kusakabe, who had set one of his large, calloused hands on her shoulder, and still had that perpetual stick of grass hanging from one corner of his mouth. She looked between him and the three arguing mafiosi, then slowly nodded. She didn't put away gloves or crop though – she might yet need them, after all.

Kusakabe stepped up, banged two heads together and slammed the third straight into the ground.

"Who do you think you are?!" the three roared once they'd pulled their faces out of the dirt.

"He is the right hand of my left hand," Tsunahime said breezily as she stepped up.

"And what little family are you from? Shouldn't you have gone inside with the other women to cook?" sneered the weasel-faced man.

"Allow me to present," Hana said with a smirk as she stepped up, "the Heir Apparent to the Vongola, Sawada Tsunahime."

"And you were being Stupid in her presence," Kusakabe said, as though being Stupid in her presence were a heinous crime – much like Crowding before Hibari was considered to be.

That shocked them all out of their anger and into whisperings. They were very soon bowing to her though.

"Please forgive our rudeness!" the weasel-faced man begged.

"Now we know who our leader is gonna be!" agreed the corpulent man in the purple t-shirt.

"Tradition, formality, size and force; in all attributes, Vongola is superior," the weasel-faced man said. There really was something very unpleasant about his face.

"Everyone! Follow our leader, Vongola the Tenth!" yelled the man with the topknot to his subordinates.

"Difo to the left, Beccio to the right, Neuvo for direct confrontation," Tsuna snapped off quickly, and pointed where she wanted them as she gave her orders. "Miura-chan, Yamamoto-san, with the Difo. Gokudera-san, with the Neuvo – yes you can use your dynamite. Kusakabe-sempai, Hana-chan, with the Beccio."

"Of course," Gokudera praised. "Only Jyuudaime is fit to be the Boss!"

While men (and a couple of teenagers) ran to their places, Tsuna sighed.

"Hibari-sempai would have enjoyed this," she said to herself, as she thought of the older teen who had stayed behind in Namimori, rather than join them.

Ah, but the enemy were approaching. The three well-armed Families and the teenagers with them did very well, until the giant octopus showed up. Reborn and one of his compatriots (another dwarf with a pacifier, this one a blonde with a very big gun) seemed to have that well in hand though. The person leading the charge was apparently Reborn's 'lackey', so Reborn took responsibility. Very quietly, after Reborn had left behind the twitching, mutilated body of the one known as 'Skull' (yet another dwarf with a pacifier), Tsuna slipped him a piece of paper with her phone number on it.

"If you feel like changing sides," she offered softly, as she slipped the paper into his helmet through a crack in his visor.

"Ah... thank you..." the infant-sized man with the purple pacifier whimpered.

~oOo~

Tsuna collected the post that morning. Even on Sunday, there was mail. Among the catalogues and magazines that Nana had subscriptions for, there was a single post card. A single, incongruous, post card... from her male progenitor.

He'd scrawled a very short missive on the front of the card, and left the back completely blank, except for their address and the stamps. Black marker over penguins that waddled around on ice and bobbed about in water. Italian stamps. In fine print, and in Italian, was written that the picture was of penguins at some Italian zoo.

Tsuna tore the card into eight little pieces, and stuck them in her pocket. She'd drop them into the compost bin beneath the sink in the kitchen after she'd given her mother the magazines, and before she started chopping up things for her breakfast and the bentos she made every day.

She knew it was perhaps a cruel thing to do, but seeing her mother become even more air-headed than usual at the prospect of Iemitsu showing up 'soon'... no. Was she grateful that she and her mother didn't have to work in order for the bills to be paid? Yes. Was she aware that her mother very dearly loved the man? Yes. But it had been two years without anything more than cheques in the mail and the occasional mushy love-letter that had no actual content – and honestly, was probably lifted straight out of a Harlequin Romance.

The last time he'd left, he'd told Nana – on his way out the door – to tell Tsuna that he'd _disappeared to become a star_ because it was 'romantic'. She'd seen the whole ridiculously sappy farewell from her window. As far as Sawada Tsunahime was concerned, her 'father' (who had been a shitty excuse of a one to begin with, whenever he was actually around) had been dead for the last two years, and they had been living off his savings and very large life-insurance payments ever since.

Besides, if he failed to follow through – again – then it wouldn't hurt Nana as much.

"I'm going to school!" she called, bag over her shoulder and two extra bentos in her hand as usual, as she slipped on her shoes and headed out the door.

"Have a good day!" Nana called back.

First stop was the elementary school, to deliver I-Pin's bento. This was the routine. Because Hibari had duties at the school (Namimori High now, though he still hung about Namimori Middle whenever he could), I-Pin was always early to the Namimori Elementary as well. The little girl had joined one of the clubs that had their activities before class in the mornings. Tsuna delivered the bento to I-Pin while she was at the club, and then headed off to meet with Hibari.

He was waiting for her at the gates of Namimori Middle. He always waited by the gates for anybody who was improperly attired or tardy.

"Small Animal," he greeted her, but said nothing of thanks as he accepted the bento.

"Good morning, Hibari-sempai," Tsuna answered, and did her best to smile for him as she usually did.

From the way his eyes narrowed, she clearly hadn't quite managed it.

"Sit," he ordered her, and pointed to a nearby bench.

Tsuna sat without argument.

When each of her friends arrived at the gate, Hibari didn't allow any of them to linger.

"Jyuudaime -" Gokudera was smacked across the shoulders and through the gate.

"Sawada-chan? Oh, Hibari-sempai..." Yamamoto was glared at until he left, laughing awkwardly.

"Tsuna-chan?" Kyoko moved on when Tsuna just shook her head.

"Oh, Sawada-imouto!" Ryohei was smacked across the shoulders as well, and glared at.

Well, he let one of them linger. He had to discipline one of the students who had arrived at school with pink streaks in their hair. That was against regulations.

For a while, Hana stood there and just stared at Tsuna, then she sighed.

"It's a review day, so there's no classes," she said. "I'll tell the sensei that you suddenly felt dizzy, and one of the prefects escorted you home. It wouldn't be the first time one of them did that, ne, Sawada-hime?" Hana teased gently.

Tsuna blinked.

"... Ah, thank you, Hana-chan."

"Whatever it is that's bothering you, Tsuna-chan, you let me know when I can help you, alright?" Hana requested, and poked her friend gently in the forehead. "That's what friends are for."

"Mama's husband -" she never called him her father, "- sent a card that says he will be returning 'soon' for a visit."

"So it's that monkey," Hana growled.

"The Herbivore," Hibari's tone matched Hana's. He'd finished handing out discipline and heard the explanation.

"Hibari-sempai, will you take Tsuna-chan away for the day?" Hana requested. "I'll keep everybody else away from her, if you can get her away from where people will look."

"... We'll go to Kokuyo," Hibari decided firmly.

"Then we should stop by some of the shops on the way," Tsuna suggested. "I think today will be the day."

The Kokuyo Centre had gone from a hide-out for Rokudo and his two allies, to their prison. Each of them was kept in a separate, completely lightless room, and were granted only a salad sandwich and a single plastic cup of water every other day. Once a week, a bucket of water was thrown on them so that they didn't get to stink too much. Every third day, either Hibari or Tsuna would visit them personally. Otherwise, it was generally one of the Disciplinary Committee.

Slowly, they had been breaking.

Tsuna had already found out that Rokudo had wanted to possess her body so that he could take control of the Vongola, and from there, destroy the mafia. She knew that Ken and Chikusa followed him because, in the wake of the horrors committed against them by their so-called family, Rokudo was the first to accept them. She even knew that, recently, Rokudo had made a friend – one that he had been able to reach because, like him, she had been clinically dead for a short time.

Tsuna had looked the girl up, and had visited her in her hospital room.

Nagi, or Dokuro Chrome as she preferred since Rokudo had come into her life, had been very receptive to having a female friend. Especially one who had saved _her_ saviour from Vindicare. It turned out that Rokudo was somehow able to reconstruct Chrome's many missing internal organs with powerful, physical illusions. Tsuna had talked to both of them about that, and had even asked Reborn for a doctor who might be able to help sort out a way to use those illusions to eventually properly heal the girl.

Tsuna hadn't been particularly thrilled with Dr Shamal as a person when she met him, but presented with such a medical anomaly, he had practically transformed. Away went the womanising pervert, and in its place stood a very professional and efficient doctor. The illusions weren't fixing the problem, just masking it. Organ transplants were possible, but getting a match made things more complicated, and there was a waiting line for such things. In the end, a compromise was reached. A compromise that, boiled down, said that Mukuro would make his illusionary organs very, very slowly shrink away, forcing Chrome's own body to produce the cells it needed to heal the (what it thought of as) tiny gaps.

It would be a very slow process, but it would be effective. Eventually.

Thinking about such things was a very welcome change from thinking about the possibility of Iemitsu's arrival.

"Hibari-sempai... if he does come..."

"The house is dusty, and I-Pin should start learning how to make something other than gyoza," Hibari said.

Tsuna smiled gratefully. That was practically an invitation to stay for a week at Hibari's house. It was very big, and if he wanted her to clean all of it and keep up with school and homework, as well as teach a little girl about cooking... well, it would take some time.

~oOo~

"He's an irresponsible guy," Tsuna said as she sat, in the dark, at the other end of the room that Rokudo was kept in.

Hibari was standing in the corner nearby, also in the dark. It was like a kind of confessional. There was no one to see, so even if they could hear, they still couldn't judge, and Tsuna didn't have to feel their stares.

"The things he says and does have always been insane. Maybe I just don't understand because I'm a girl, but I'm pretty sure I'd still feel the same way if I were a boy."

"What sort of things?" Rokudo asked.

"I remember I once asked him what he did for a living," Tsuna recalled. "He said he flew all around the world and managed traffic at construction sites," she scoffed. "And the last time he left, he told my mother to tell me he died, in not so many words, just because it sounded romantic, and Mama likes romantic things. I decided that if he wanted to say he was dead, then he could just be dead."

"Small Animal," Hibari spoke up.

"Hai, Hibari-sempai?"

"If he is alive, why is he not the successor for the mafia family, instead of you?"

"I can answer that," Rokudo spoke up. "Sawada Iemitsu is known as the 'Young Lion of the Vongola'. He's in charge of the Consulenza Esterna Della Famiglia, the CEDEF, which makes him ineligible for the succession. He sucks at it too, by all accounts," he added with a scoff. "Much more useful as a field operative than a CEO, but he has the favour of the Ninth, so no one can kick him out."

"Why didn't you possess the Ninth, Rokudo-san?" Tsuna asked curiously. "He's already in charge of the Vongola, after all. I'm only the 'heir apparent', and the last three all died in mysterious circumstances."

"People would notice a change in his behaviour," Rokudo explained simply. "You're an unknown in the Mafia world, so no one would have guessed at the truth."

"Old people go funny in the brain all the time," Tsuna countered.

"The Herbivore is a fine example," Hibari quipped.

"Iemitsu always said weird things," Tsuna agreed, then sighed. "And Mama just lapped it up like he had hung the stars. She doesn't even care that he only rarely visits, or that those visits are never long. I haven't seen him in two years, and I know I will never trust him."

"Oh?" Rokudo hummed. "That might be awkward, since he's the External Advisor," he reminded her. "The CEDEF are also supposed to handle intelligence, I believe."

"If I ever move up from 'heir apparent' to actually being the Tenth, I plan on firing him," Tsuna decided and decreed. "Possibly with real fire. External advice and intelligence... sounds like a good job for Hana-chan."

"Hn," Hibari agreed.

 _Midori tanabiku Namimori no ~_

Hibari flipped open his phone.

"Hai. Mm. Ah. I'll be right there," he said, and hung up.

"Somebody is disturbing the peace of Namimori?" Tsunahime guessed.

"Yes," Hibari grunted, frustrated.

"Then you had better go," she permitted, and stood. "I'll walk out with you."

She opened the door, and light spilled into the black little room. Behind her, Rokudo gasped. He got to see true light so rarely now. Tsuna turned in the doorway to look back at him.

"I hope that, one day, you will be willing to walk out of this door at my side," she told him. "And then walk with me to meet your friends. They miss you, you know? To them, you are Onii-sama, beloved and respected and adored. You all three have so much potential. I do wish you would ask to leave the darkness of your sins behind. I know that Chrome-chan wants to meet you in person as well."

"Small Animal," Hibari summoned softly.

"Hai, Hibari-sempai," she agreed, and reached out to lace her fingertips with his, just lightly.

To Rokudo, at that moment, Sawada Tsunahime was herself made of light and warmth. He wanted to reach out and touch that, for her to reach out and touch him in turn. He could see though, in the cold glint of silver eyes that flashed through both the warming light and the freezing darkness, that while Hibari might let Rokudo get close... he would not allow him to touch her more than was necessary for him to kiss her feet.

Then darkness engulfed him again as the door shut, and the many locks, bolts, and bars were replaced.

Next time, he resolved, the next time they opened his door, he would ask.


	6. Chapter 6

Tsuna's expression flattened when she returned home from the Kokuyo Centre to find the yard filled with freshly laundered clothing – in particular, man-style shirts and cover-alls. She was even less happy to find muddy boots, a hard-hat, a shovel, and a pickaxe in the entryway. Worse, she recognised the other, much more dainty sets of shoes that were set neatly in cubby holes. Her friends were being exposed to Iemitsu.

When she entered the living room, it turned out to be even worse than she imagined. They were being exposed to a slovenly, snoring Iemitsu who was dressed in only his underwear.

"Ah, Tsuna-chan!" Kyoko greeted. "I'm so glad. I was worried about you this morning, and then you left with Hibari-sempai rather than attending... Hana-chan said to leave you be, but I still worried."

"Haru was worried too, desu," Miura joined in. "People were being evacuated from the shopping district, and Kyoko-chan had told Haru that Tsuna-chan wasn't safely at school, desu!"

"I was with Hibari-sempai," Tsuna placated. "I'm fine. I came home when he got the call about the violence happening. He'll put a stop to it... but... what is going on here?"

"Tsu-chan, your papa came home while you were gone," Nana announced happily as she brought out yet more food. As if there weren't enough on the table already. "So we went ahead and started celebrating."

"That was an amazing story," Kyoko commented to her friend. Kyoko had become closer to Miura than Tsuna had, for all that she was slowly becoming closer to the other girl.

"Yes!" Miura agreed. "I was so surprised!"

"We all listened to your dad's stories," Miura said with a happy smile. "He had many difficult and thrilling jobs all around the world! Haru was so moved, desu!"

Tsuna held in a sigh. This, this was why she wasn't as close to Miura as Kyoko was. Miura Haru had that same rosy, starry-eyed, romantic, _ridiculous_ outlook that Sawada Nana did. Tsuna lived near it, but disagreed with it.

Kyoko had a similar disposition – not exactly the same, but similar. It should be noted that it had taken Tsuna two years of regular exposure and a whole lot of Hana for Tsuna to be as close to Kyoko as she now was.

The sooner both of them got married – Miura to Dino, and Kyoko to... Yamamoto? He seemed like a good candidate for her – the better, really. For their sakes. It would likely also help Tsuna's relationship with both girls, if they had someone specific to focus their starry-eyes and sweet doting on.

Kyoko already had her brother, but she didn't have a brother complex, and the girl wasn't meant to be a spinster. She was too much a natural at mothering.

"Your dad certainly is interesting!" Kyoko added brightly.

"I don't have a 'dad'," Tsunahime declared coldly.

Everybody froze. Except, of course, for Iemitsu himself, who was still snoring away in his underwear. Lambo, who had been happily digging into the food, stopped. Fuuta, who had been about to take a bite of a sandwich, stopped. Kyoko and Miura, who had been giggling, stopped, blinked, and their smiles fell away. Nana, who had been about to stand up from the table and fetch more food from the kitchen, practically froze up.

"Mama told me two years ago that the man she was married to had died," Tsuna continued, uncaring. "He was a very bad father, when he was alive. Maybe he was a better husband, I don't know. The savings he left behind, and the regular cheques we get from his life-insurance, mean that we live comfortably without either Mama or me needing to work. I'm sure they will last until I have graduated and found a job."

"Hahi?" Miura squeaked weakly.

"Tsu-chan..." Nana whispered brokenly.

"I know you have different feelings about him than I do, Mama," Tsuna said, a little more kindly, as she turned away from the feast that was laid out. "But to me, he is dead, and should stay that way. Excuse me. I'm going up to my room."

Hana was already there, two bags open on Tsuna's bed, as she piled in clothes and various other items she would need for an extended sleep-over at a friend's house.

Tsuna dug into a couple of hidden spots and pulled out some things that she had kept hidden from everybody. Just in case.

"Tsu-chan, you... you didn't mean it..." Nana said from the door, just as Tsuna zipped up one bag and Hana did the other. The woman had followed her daughter up as soon as she had unfrozen.

"The same day you told me that Sawada Iemitsu had disappeared to become a star, which even I knew meant he was dead," Tsuna said as she slung the strap of one bag over a shoulder, and picked up the other bag with the opposite hand. "I remember that, on that day, I did my hair up in a special style with my prettiest combs and hairsticks, that I bought an ice-cream with sprinkles on top, and that the next day, I confessed my feelings to the boy I liked."

Hana shuddered, as she also remembered that particular day.

"As long as the dead-man-walking is staying, I will not," Tsuna said plainly. "Hana-chan and Hibari-sempai have both offered me a place to stay until _it_ leaves."

"Tsuna," Reborn called from the door, near Nana's feet, a light reproach in his tone.

"Reborn-san," Tsuna acknowledged. "Will you teach me something right now?"

"Hm?"

"How should I rig explosives to my door so that, when it is opened, the explosion only goes outward, and does not damage my room?" Tsuna asked. "I still have a great many grenades, and other things, that I confiscated from Lambo-kun when he first came to us."

"Impossible. Your door opens in the wrong direction."

"Yare yare," Tsuna grumbled, not really bothered. She had suspected he would deny her that lesson – it would make his own sneaking in of guests that much harder. "Fine. I'll balance a bucket of Bianchi-san's cooking on top of the door, so that it falls on whoever opens it."

"... When you are done, there are some very serious things that we need to discuss."

~oOo~

"Who is he?" Tsunahime asked when she was shown into a room at the hospital. There was a boy, younger than her, unconscious in the bed, as well as Cavallone and one of his subordinates watching over him.

"His name is Basil. He's... not technically Vongola," Dino answered solemnly. "He's definitely on your side though."

"My side? What's going on?"

"The Half Vongola Rings are on the move," Reborn explained. "They were supposed to be held in a secret location for three more years. They are the Vongola Family's treasures."

"Expensive or priceless?" Tsuna queried cautiously.

"Priceless," Reborn confirmed. "An untold amount of blood has been spilled over those rings in the Vongola's long history. They're rings with a dark past."

"It seems that everything to do with Vongola has a dark past, or a skeleton in the closet, or something else going on," Hana complained from Tsuna's side. She had refused to be excluded, and Tsuna had also insisted on her friend being present.

"Let me guess, they got stolen," Tsuna said with a pre-emptively exhausted groan.

"About that..." Dino spoke up. "I have them right here."

Tsuna blinked.

"The decoys were stolen," Dino explained. "I came here because of these. A certain someone asked me to deliver them to you."

"... What herbivorous monkey bastard set up a kid younger than me as _bait_?!" Tsuna demanded with a dangerous hiss, and her brown eyes flickered with an orange inner flame. A moment later, as she actually thought about that, the flame flared. "Dead man. He's a dead man walking."

"Eh? That monkey?" Hana asked, then paused. "Wait, you're the heir apparent, but he's alive, so it should be him... Tsuna-chan, patricide is frowned upon in most societies, and you don't like actually, personally committing violence."

"And I'm not going to commit violence now either," Tsuna answered as she very deliberately breathed deeply and slowly in and out. "Reborn-san, Cavallone-san, why are these rings being delivered to me, three years earlier than they should have been let out?"

"I don't approve of that, and I don't know why," Reborn said quickly, answering the second question first. "I really think it is too soon to give you the rings, but we can't argue now. It's apparently an emergency situation. As for why you, the ring that you specifically will wear from the set is proof that you are an official successor to Vongola."

"Go back to the part about it being an emergency situation?" Tsuna asked with a sigh. She had been introducing herself to Mafia-affiliated people as the 'heir apparent' to Vongola. It seemed that she was now the official heir, nothing 'apparent' about it any more.

"Some terrible guys are after those rings, which bestow amazing power," Reborn explained solemnly. "The man who did this to Basil is one of them. His name is Superbi Squalo, and he is a member of the Varia, an independent organisation of assassins who are said to be the strongest within Vongola."

"And yet, this kid is still breathing," Hana noted, not sure if she should be impressed with the kid or lower her estimation of these 'strongest assassins'.

"Squalo was after the rings, not Basil," Dino spoke up, "also, I may have interfered."

"The Varia have always been very loyal to Vongola, and have completed many difficult missions," Reborn picked up again. "It's a shadow organisation, never meant to be seen, noticed, or have anything to do with the face of Vongola. But one day, they rebelled, and now they're emerging from the shadows again, and for the same reason as before: to try and take control of the Vongola."

"And when they find out the half-rings that they have taken are fake?" Tsuna asked, but then her eyes narrowed. "They're not fake. But they are _half_ rings. You need both sets."

"Oh? The famed Vongola Hyper Intuition!" Dino said with a chuckle. "I guess it's useful for more than just battle!"

"I'll step up your training, and have you ready to face the rest of the Varia when they come. No matter what, this would be an unavoidable trial on the way to becoming Boss," Reborn said, resolved. "Still... I would have preferred more warning, and the additional three years I had initially expected."

"The plans of mice and men," Tsuna grumbled, and opened up the box that Dino still held. "Why seven?"

Reborn leapt up to perch on Dino's shoulder.

"You wear this one, as the leader, the Sky," Reborn explained, and pulled out the central ring, which he held out to Tsuna.

She took it, and slipped it on over her grey kid gloves. Nice thing about kid gloves – they were so thin that rings could go over them.

"The others are for your Guardians to hold. Chosen members of your Family who are worthy of protecting the next Vongola Boss. They represent Storm, Sun, Mist, Rain, Cloud, and Lightning," Reborn explained , and pointed to each ring in turn. "You will need to choose your Guardians, or they will be chosen for you."

"What are the criteria for the other rings? If I have the 'sky' because I'm the leader, what qualities are expected for the others?" Tsuna asked. As for the 'danger' aspect of holding the rings... well, she had her ranking for a reason. She would sort out this Guardians business to her satisfaction, go through Reborn's training... and when they arrived in Namimori, she would see about meeting the person in charge of the Varia.

~oOo~

"Why did you choose those people as your Guardians?" Reborn asked. "You will have to face the Varia. Your Guardians need to be strong and able to defend you. There were other options. Options that were arguably more suitable."

"Like who?" Tsuna countered as she made up the bed in the room that Hibari was letting her stay over in.

"Gokudera would have been a better choice for Storm Guardian," Reborn stated. "Sasagawa Ryohei would have been a much better choice than his sister, considering the impending confrontation with the Varia. I would also have liked to see Yamamoto holding the Rain ring."

"Well, at least you're not contesting the Cloud or the Mist," Tsuna huffed softly.

"Chrome and Mukuro are the only options available for the Mist ring, and they are able to share the same mind," Reborn complained. "It is frustrating to me that you have extended that kind of protection to someone wanted by Vindicare, but..."

"But you saw for yourself how he swore himself to my service," Tsuna finished with a pleased smile. "And Chrome-chan... she is the sheath to his sword, I think. Will very likely become that in more than one way, when they are older," she added with a giggle.

"Hmph."

"I will not make a Guardian of the idiot who spouts off 'Jyuudaime' everywhere as though that were my name, rather than Sawada, and who has a policy of throw-bombs-first, yell-stupidity-after," Tsuna said, addressing Reborn's earlier nominations. "Not even ask questions, just yelling offended pride, and that's if he hasn't carelessly blown himself up as well. Hana-chan is much more sensible. The eye of the storm, rather than blustering and destructive, though she is very capable of that as well when she wants."

"And what's wrong with Yamamoto or Ryohei?" Reborn wanted to know.

"Nothing," Tsuna said with a shrug, "and I'm sure they'll probably be part of my eventual security detail as well, if they want to be, but I am not close to them. I am close to Kusakabe-sempai and Kyoko-chan. Besides, you can't say that either of them are exactly weak."

Kusakabe had been 'number four' in the count-down through the toughest fighters of Namimori Middle that had been conducted by Rokudo, and Kyoko had proven her own strength of character after her brother was hospitalised.

"No," the pint-sized tutor allowed grudgingly. "I can't say such things about Miura Haru either. She's an odd girl -"

"I don't want to hear that from you."

"But she is eminently capable. Still, Lambo would have also been suitable for the Lightning spot, and in general, having female Guardians is... not done..."

"Lambo-kun is a child," Tsuna stated. "I will never put a child in that position."

"I wouldn't have picked him either," Reborn assured her quickly. "But the External Advisor... Well, there are certain people in Namimori right now who are descended from, and greatly resemble, the Guardians of the First. To people who don't know you as well as I am beginning to, they would be the first choice for your Guardians."

Tsuna scoffed.

"I'm not the second coming, and I won't let my Guardians be dictated by an idiot who doesn't know jack about me," she said firmly.

"... He hasn't told you."

"No," Tsuna said, aware of exactly what Reborn was talking about. "But Rokudo-kun did. I know who the External Advisor is, and as soon as I am actually the Boss of Vongola, he's going to be out of a job. Advisors should be trusted, reliable, and sensible, after all. To me, that man is none of those things. To me, he is dead."

"Hm..."

"His current position of Advisor to the Ninth does begin to answer a few questions though," Tsuna added darkly. "Even if it also raises more."

~oOo~

It promised to be a gruelling week of training, for everybody. Reborn had called in a favour from a couple of his friends/colleagues, as even he couldn't train with seven people, each with vastly different fighting styles, at once.

A blonde dwarf, also with a pacifier like Reborn, formerly of the aquatic arm of the Italian Military, came at his call. He was introduced as Collonello, and took over the training of Kyoko, who was arguably the softest of the group. Miura talked to Yamamoto, and both went to his father for lessons in the art of the sword. Dr Shamal helped Chrome and Rokudo with their training, though Rokudo only indirectly, and it wasn't like he needed much help anyway. The Cavallone boss, Dino, had volunteered himself as a sparring partner for Hibari. Hana asked Hibari to lend her someone from his mother's side of the family to help with her training. It was well known exactly which side of Hibari's family was the more violent one – his father had been a police detective. Not a day later, someone who was suspiciously short, and who I-Pin called 'Sifu', arrived to train her. Kusakabe, who was also Hibari's cousin (on both of their mother's sides), was able to go to his parents for further combat training. Unlike Hibari, his parents were both still alive and able to give him that training.

Tsuna was once again dragged out into the wilderness by Reborn for a training session. This time, she didn't simply hitch-hike back home again.

"If you were a boy, I'd have taught you some of this already," Reborn said as he sat down with her at the base of a cliff, next to a river. "I'd have shot you on the day we met with a Dying Will Bullet."

"Is that anything like Rokudo-kun's Possession Bullet?" Tsuna asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The person shot in the head with a Dying Will Bullet will be resurrected with Dying Will," Reborn said.

"That is... no help at all," Tsuna confessed apologetically. "Like describing a circle by saying it's circular."

"The basis of the resurrection is any regrets that you have when dying. This means that, even though you're shot in the head, as long as you regret something, you don't die. On the other hand, the boost from the bullet lasts only five minutes. Dying Will means that all your safety switches are turned off, so in exchange for risking your life to the limit, you can harness amazing strength," Reborn explained. "I haven't used it on you because, as well as all of that, people hit with the Dying Will Bullet do tend to rip all their clothes off, apart from their underwear. This can be mildly embarrassing for boys, but it is taboo for girls."

Tsuna grimaced. "Let's skip that," she agreed, glad for a taboo which had kept her from being sent haring around in her underthings.

"But it lets the person get a feel for their Flames, which you will need in the battles to come. The Flames of the Dying Will are a Vongola signature," Reborn countered firmly. "Even your Guardians will need to know it."

"So... what are we going to do instead?"

"Since Shamal arrived, as well as helping Chrome, I have had him working on a Dying Will Pill for you," Reborn revealed, and handed over a plastic bottle, the kind that pharmacies gave out vitamin pills in. "These are just a training tool," he cautioned. "To help you get in touch with your inner Flame. Some people rely on them, but they are difficult to make and you need to learn to be able to access your flame without them. Your opponent has been able to do this instinctively since he was very young."

Tsuna didn't say anything about her 'opponent' – she had her own ideas of how to deal with that matter – but she would probably need this training sooner than later. She opened the bottle and poured a single pill into the palm of her hand. For a moment, she just rolled it between her fingers and thought about what 'dying will' meant to her.

"Have all of my friends been given one of these as well, to help them?" she asked.

"Not yet," Reborn said. "I'll arrange it."

Tsuna nodded, then, with one last glance at Reborn, she swallowed down the pill.


	7. Chapter 7

"So, this is where they're staying," Hibari said, his voice a velvet murmur hiding the steel beneath.

"Hai, Kyou-san," Kusakabe confirmed. "I've already booked the use of a smaller conference room, and asked the concierge to deliver the invitation to their suite on your behalf."

"Thank you, Kusakabe-sempai," Tsuna said with a bright, grateful smile, "for all your hard work."

"Of course, Sawada-hime," the tall young man answered with a fond smile of his own. "Please, let me show you to the room I booked for your use."

"Sumimasen," said one of the hotel staff when they reached the room. "We forgot to ask what sort of refreshments Oujou-sama would like for herself and her guests."

"I don't know what they would like," Tsuna admitted. "So we'll have a small variety... Hm. Hana-chan?"

"Green tea, not the Western kind, as well as coffee, which will need to be high-standard, since our guests are Italian," Hana spoke up firmly, "and water. This is a business meeting, not a time for drinking juice like children, or sake in the middle of the day. No food."

The man bowed, turned, and hurried off to fetch the requested drink service.

In the room, there was a large coffee table, two large, plush chairs, and four much more restrained ones. Very much the meeting place for two 'bosses' who had each brought along two subordinates – most likely used by CEOs who travelled with an accountant and a lawyer in tow, so they could write up business contracts. Close enough, for the meeting that was to come.

Tsuna, Hana, and Hibari made themselves comfortable. Tsuna took one of the large, comfortable chairs, and her two friends took two of the slightly lesser chairs.

"I'm surprised, Hibari-sempai," Hana quipped, "that you haven't taken the other big chair."

"For this meeting, I am subordinate, not equal or superior," Hibari answered neutrally.

The door slammed open before Tsuna could say anything to the older boy.

"To Heir Apparent of the Vongola, Xanxus, boss of the Varia, a request for parley for the sake of the continued appearance of strength and unity within the Vongola, from Heir Apparent of the Vongola, Sawada Tsunahime," read off a very irritated young man from the missive that Tsuna had written, and that Kusakabe had made sure was delivered. "To be held in a booked meeting room of the hotel where you are staying, and to be witnessed by the right and left hands of both parties, should you choose to bring them. The fuck, Trash?" he demanded as he threw the letter down on the table, then lowered himself into the large chair opposite Tsunahime.

"You are Xanxus-san?" Tsunahime asked.

"Yeah," he agreed. "And you're Sawada's brat."

"... Hai. This is my right hand, Kurokawa Hana, and my left hand, Hibari Kyouya," she presented.

"Tch," Xanxus grumbled, and waved at the still-open door. "Superbi and Lussuria," he named absently as two men, older than himself, walked into the room and took their places in the two chairs on either side of him, just as Hana and Hibari bracketed Tsuna.

"Voi! Who's the kid at the door?" the silver-haired Superbi demanded. "He's got the other half of my ring!"

"That is Kusakabe Tetsuya," Tsuna answered, even as said teen opened the door for the hotel staff to bring in the drinks and serve everybody. "He is standing guard to make sure that we will not be disturbed by dwarves or dead men," she continued, once the door was closed again.

Superbi choked on his drink.

"Eh?" Lussuria yelped.

"The fuck, Trash?"

"Reborn-san, and Sawada Iemitsu, respectively," Hana clarified, and sipped at her tea.

"Ha! I get the dwarf reference, but why dead man?" Xanxus asked, amused despite himself, as he picked up his coffee.

"Because the last time he left, he told Sawada Nana to pass on to the Small Animal that he had 'disappeared to become a star'," Hibari answered.

"As such, he is a dead monkey -"

"Herbivore."

"- walking, so far as those of us who are close to Tsuna-chan are concerned," Hana added, skilfully ignoring Hibari's interjection. "Tsuna-chan calls him her mother's husband, not 'father', and much more often dead-man-walking."

Lussuria brought one gloved hand to his mouth, while the other quickly set his coffee on the table so that he wouldn't spill it. He was clearly trying to stifle laughter. On the other side of Xanxus, Superbi released a single, loud "Ha!" and toasted with his coffee cup. Xanxus himself grinned in a darkly amused manner.

"You didn't ask me here to complain about the External Advisor trash," Xanxus said.

"No," Tsuna agreed. "I would just like to clarify that Iemitsu is a dead man, and the Ninth is showing signs of senility," Tsuna said.

"Eh?" Lussuria voiced. "How do you come to that conclusion, Sawada-chan? You haven't ever met him, have you?"

"Not to my knowledge," Tsuna denied with a shake of her head, even as she set down her water and pulled out the letter that she had initially received regarding Rokudo. "But this seems proof enough to me," she said, and lay it on the table.

Superbi reached out to pick it up, checked it for tampering, and then passed it to his boss.

"At the time, it was stated that I was the only living heir to the Vongola," Tsuna said as she picked up her glass once more, and Xanxus read the letter. "I was being sent after a person who had killed whole Families, effectively a suicide mission, and was threatened with death if I failed to comply. Vongola would have been without any heirs at all, at that time, had I failed or fled. Is this the action of a sane man, who is hoping to retire and pass on the mantle to another?"

"No," Xanxus agreed, tone solemn and expression dark.

"And these rings," Tsuna said, and held up her hand to show the Half Ring that she held. "They were supposed to be in storage for another three years, weren't they?"

"... They were," Xanxus confirmed.

"It stinks of a set-up to me," Tsuna stated bluntly. "I don't know which of us is being set up, maybe it's both of us, but I have no intention of letting myself be strung along."

"What do you want, Trash?" Xanxus demanded lowly.

Tsuna sat back in her chair and took a deep, bracing breath.

"Marry me," she offered.

On either side of her, Hana and Hibari were both as still as statues. It was not the stillness of surprise carefully hidden, but rather the stillness of those who knew what was coming but did not like it. Had very likely voiced their objections already in private.

Across the table, Superbi had lunged out of his chair and to his feet in a fury, and Lussuria had practically fallen out of his in shock. Xanxus didn't seem to be breathing for a moment, and then he barked out a derisive, scoffing laugh. Superbi and Lussuria retook their seats.

"You don't want to marry me, Trash," he said plainly.

"You're right," Tsuna confirmed calmly, plainly. "I actually want to marry Hibari-sempai. This is not about what I want, however unfortunate that may be when discussing my potential marriage prospects. This is about Vongola, a Mafia family for which I honestly don't give even the slightest damn, but which I am being dragged into despite my wishes. If I marry you, then both sides of the Vongola will have to unite, because they will both have what they want."  
"Oh?" Xanxus queried, though now his red eyes were lingering on Hibari as much as they were on Tsuna.

"For the people who want me to rule Vongola, I will be 'queen of the castle', as it were. For those who want you in charge, you will have that authority. It won't matter which of us is technically in charge of the Vongola, if we are married and rule it as at least theoretical equals," Tsuna explained.

"And what about your left hand over there?" Xanxus asked, and jerked his chin in Hibari's direction.

"Sawada Tsunahime is my Small Animal," Hibari said, and let one of his hands twist and twine with the nearer to him of Tsuna's hands. "Mine. I do not share."

"You have no idea how weird it has been for me, watching those two," Hana informed the three Varia over the table, as she jerked her thumb at the other two beside her. "They make no sense to me. None at all. Tsuna-chan has explained it, but I still don't get it."

Xanxus chuckled.

"I don't see this working out so well, if you actually want to marry him, and he's so possessive of you," he pointed out to Tsuna with an amused smile.

"That depends on how well you can keep a secret, and how willing you are to share," Tsuna countered boldly.

"Voi! Boss is just as possessive as your little boyfriend," Superbi declared.

"I have agreed to this," Hibari countered. Though he was clearly dissatisfied with the (supposed) need to, and wished the whole situation didn't exist. "Or we would not be making this offer. I would rather just bite you all to death, but even if I did that, my Small Animal cannot simply stay in Namimori with me."

"Oh?" Lussuria asked. "You wouldn't follow her to Italy?"

"The Hibari family is to Namimori what the Vongola is to the Mafia," Tsuna, Hibari and Hana all stated plainly.

"I will visit my Small Animal in Italy, she will return to visit me, but she will need a capable Carnivore at her side _there_ also," Hibari stated.

"I will be Tsunahime Vongola, wife of Xanxus Vongola, co-Boss of the Vongola Family, while I'm in Italy. I will be Hibari Tsunahime, wife of Hibari Kyouya, moderator of the peace of Namimori, while I'm in Japan. If and when he visits Italy, Hibari-sempai will be my Cloud Guardian, nothing more. If you visit Japan, our relationship would be equally strictly professional," Tsuna explained with careful, deliberate neutrality.

"What you guys decide to come up with while you're in any other country, that's much more flexible," Hana added.

"Any heirs will be born in the country of and live with their father. I will never _appear_ pregnant, and I will stay with my child constantly until they are weaned. I will also spend a minimum of six months every year with each of the families that we will build. We can figure out a schedule," Tsuna continued. "I will not live in a marriage like my mother's."

"Ah," Xanxus said, and a smile of understanding spread across his features. It didn't look friendly, but then, none of Hibari's smiles did either. That didn't mean that it was any less kindly meant. "I think we have an accord," he agreed. "But there is still the matter of who will wear the rings. Me and my guardians, or you and yours?"

"Perhaps we could let fate decide?" Tsuna suggested with a small smile. "Hibari-sempai can have his fun, and the training the others have done these past ten days since we received one set of the Half Rings won't go completely to waste, maybe. Nothing fatal though. I would not like having to make the back-ups step up."

"Those monkeys are too annoying for words," Hana agreed.

"Voi!" Squalo yelled, a savagely eager-looking grin on his face.

"Ooh, goody!" Lussuria cooed happily, and wiggled in his seat.

"My Disciplinary Committee will set up a neutral arena for the fights," Hibari declared. "Outside of Namimori, so that the peace of the town is not disturbed, and none of the buildings are damaged."

"You can make a neutral arena?" Xanxus asked.

"Please don't doubt his scruples," Hana requested with a sigh. "The monkeys that answer to him will see that the arenas are totally neutral. Probably actually just a flat space with some kind of barrier between the fighters and the observers. That's about as neutral as you can get really, ne?"

"You can call in someone you trust as well, to help create the arenas," Tsuna offered, "but the Disciplinary Committee know how things work around Namimori."

Xanxus nodded.

"Shark, get the old man to call in the Cervello to work with this... committee."

~oOo~

The first match was between the holders of the Sun Rings. The battles began at high noon, and the 'arena' (which would serve everyone) was a large cage, which was essentially just as Hana had predicted, more or less. Kyoko would face Lussuria in what was essentially a cage fight. Ryohei wasn't exactly happy about that. Mostly because he wanted to be the one fighting.

"But Onii-chan promised not to fight any more," Kyoko reminded him.

"Yes, I did. I also promised that if I ever did have to fight, then I wouldn't lose," Ryohei countered earnestly. "Kyoko -!"

"I never promised not to fight, Onii-chan," she cut him off. "I made Onii-chan promise because he liked fighting too much, and lots of people got hurt, and then Onii-chan got sent to hospital. Tsuna-chan said, ano, how did it go? I am a girl, therefore I am more dangerous than a boy. I am fighting to protect those I care about, and I do not care what I must do, so long I can keep as my precious people are safe and healthy."

"But, this isn't that kind of fight," Ryohei pointed out, trying to weasel his way into the ring, and pry his little sister out of it. "It's a spar, a bout to get a prize."

"Hai," Kyoko agreed with a nod of her head. "Lussuria-san has already agreed to a shopping trip with Haru-chan and me after all the fights are done."

"Mou, if he really wants to, I'll fight your onii-chan as well, Kyoko-chan," Lussuria offered with a smile. "I see his knuckles are bandaged. A boxer?"

"Captain of the Boxing Club," both of the Sasagawa siblings answered at the same time.

"Aw, how cute! We'll definitely have to spar later," Lussuria promised Ryohei, and tapped his nose like he was a little child rather than a teen in his last year of middle school.

Tsuna brought her riding crop down on Ryohei's shoulders.

"Just cheer from the sidelines for once, Sasagawa-sempai," she scolded him, "and begin to understand how Kyoko-chan felt every time you picked a fight."

"Oi, why does she have a gun for a cage fight?" demanded a large man with lightning-bolt styled side-burns when the two fighters finally stepped into the ring.

"Kyoko-chan is more of a healer than a fighter, but she's a really crack shot," Yamamoto explained happily. "For this fight though, Kyoko-chan is mostly using her rifle as a pole-arm, since this is close combat with an ally."

"Mostly?" asked a blonde teen who was wearing a tiara with his Varia uniform.

"She's got squib cartridges," Miura replied. "Paint-filled rounds. They'll sting, but they won't do any real damage. Just show where damage would have been inflicted."

"Ah."

"And my metal knee has also been swapped out for a padded one that will leave a paint-mark behind, a different colour to Kyoko-chan's squib bullets," Lussuria added with a slight grimace and a wiggle that wasn't nearly as happy as his usual ones. "Ah, but this isn't a fight to the death, so..." he said with a shrug.

"Battle for the Vongola Sun Ring, begin!"

 _Bang! Bang! Click-clack, bang!_

Kyoko still used a twin-barrel shot gun, which had to be manually reloaded after every two shots, not that she let that slow her down. Her opponent was very fast as well though, and she had to dodge a kick to her side. Kyoko replied to the kick by swinging the butt of the gun around to try and catch Lussuria's sunglasses.

The large, muscled man laughed as he leapt out of the way. He really was having fun. He charged again.

Kyoko jumped straight up to avoid him. Somehow, she jumped high enough to be able to grab hold of the top of the cage. Still hanging, Kyoko turned and swung (like a monkey, to Hana's horror) and landed feet-first on Lussuria's back, forcing the man to the ground under the momentum of both his own charge and her suddenly added weight.

Normally he wouldn't even stumble under the weight of such a slip of a girl, but inertia had been behind him, and gravity against him.

"Bang," Kyoko declared with a giggle, as she held her rifle to the back of Lussuria's skull. "Hehe, I guess that 'beginner's luck' isn't entirely a myth after all."

"Ara ara, and you're such a pretty, fragile-looking little thing that everybody will underestimate you as well, Kyoko-chan," Lussuria agreed with a sigh.

"Well done, kora."


	8. Chapter 8

If Kyoko's win was luck, Miura's was a definite showing of a great many diverse skills. Her Varia opponent had one attack, in the end. Sure, he could vary the voltage of that attack – he really took the 'Lightning' aspect very literally – but it was still the only attack that he had. He was also, unfortunately, quite clumsy. Mammon even made comment on it.

On the other hand, Miura was an acrobat, capable of grappling like an octopus, and a swords-woman to boot.

Xanxus would have laughed, except that it was just too embarrassing that one of his men – an elite officer of the Varia – had just been trumped by a little girl. Not even the pure luck that anybody could have that had been what defeated Lussuria – he could have just as easily connected a powerful kick with the girl's neck or ribcage and taken her out – but Levi had actually been legitimately beaten by a more skilled opponent. A teen-aged girl.

"Voi," Superbi said with an appreciative look at Miura. "We should spar some time. I'm always looking for skilled opponents."

"Hai, and Yamamoto-kun too, desu!" Haru chirped in cheerful agreement as she hopped out of the arena and slipped the completed ring onto her finger.

"Oh?"

"I'm learning my old man's sword style," Yamamoto admitted with a smile.

"Yamamoto-san is also Tsuna's back-up Rain Guardian," Reborn offered. "You won't get to fight him officially in this setting, by maybe another time."

"Voi!"

Unfortunately for Superbi's desire to take his turn, the next fight drawn was not his. They were going by papers taken from Reborn's hat, the tutor hitman had confessed amusement as much as frustration at the 'solution' that Tsuna and Xanxus had agreed to. Iemitsu, on the other hand, outright rejected it, and had his underlings working overtime to find the Ninth in the hopes that he could overturn the arrangement.

Initially, he'd just wanted a reason why the old man had apparently changed his mind and allowed Xanxus to fight for the rings. Now, well, he was at least two years too late to be trying to be a protective father. He (foolishly) was making the effort though – and complaining the whole time about so many 'wrong' Guardians being chosen.

The next fight drawn was for the Storm Ring, which, according to the styles of both Hana and her opponent Belphegor, turned out to be a something of a knife-fight. Hana had gotten new stiletto heels – ones that had actual stiletto daggers, rather than just the regular heels sharpened to incredible points – and Prince Belphegor used throwing knives that were also attached to wires.

"You _ruined_ my shirt."

"You _cut_ me!"

They both blurred, impossible-to-follow movements highlighted by the occasional flash of sharpened steel.

Tsuna burst out laughing when they both finally stopped moving, which sparked similar reactions in some of the others present. Not all. Actually, a majority seemed to be somewhat horrified by what they were seeing, but to Tsuna, it was just too funny an ending not to.

They each had a knife in one hand (Hana had clearly stolen the one she held from her opponent), and the other tangled in the other's hair as they ground together and tried to swallow the other's tongue.

A very short person with a long black braid, who had been watching from his perch on Hibari's shoulder, blushed as red as his shirt, and dropped his warmed face into his hands.

The Cervello, who were acting as official judges, sighed and suggested it was a draw. At least, until Hana moved her hand and the glint of the completed Storm Ring could be seen on her finger.

That set Lussuria at least to join in with those who were laughing.

"Brat prince is _never_ going to stop hearing about this," Xanxus declared with a distinctly amused smirk. "What is it with little girls still in school beating my trained and deadly men?"

Tsuna judiciously didn't answer, and did her best to stifle her laughter and repress her smile.

Even if she had tried to answer though, it wouldn't have been heard over Superbi's yelling. It was finally his turn, and he wasn't being asked to fight a girl still in middle school. His opponent was at least in high school.

"I am not a swordsman," Kusakabe stated straight up as he eyed the weapon strapped to his opponent's wrist, his own hands easily slipped into his pockets.

"Don't tell me I got the one Lussuria should have been fighting," Superbi groused as he took in the teenager's relaxed stance. "Voi! At least I'm not fighting a little girl."

Kusakabe smirked at that.  
"And look how well it turned out for your fellows, losing to little girls," he pointed out, amused. "I suppose your ego won't hurt quite as much as theirs, huh?"

It was a clear and blatant implication that the swordsman's loss was a foregone conclusion, and it had Superbi grinding his teeth and growling. He had enough self-control not to simply charge though.

"I think that the descriptions of the elements are very poor ones," Tsuna said softly as the fight began. "The unrelenting storm that destroys everything in its path. The bright sun that breaks down adversity. The rain that cleanses battlefields and washes away conflict. These are only one dimension."

"Nm?" Xanxus grunted curiously from his seat next to her.

"It could be just as easy to say that the storm brings change, by sweeping away that which was before, and bringing in new things. The storm can leave you exposed to everything, or buried and trapped," Tsuna said with a wave to where Hana and Bel were _still_ kissing. "The sun is warm and comforting, and encourages growth," she gestured to Kyoko, "but it can also burn, and cause things to wither. The rain -"

Kusakabe was covered in cuts, some shallow, some deep, but he had also landed a number of hits on Superbi, each one at a pressure point, slowly but steadily weakening him.

"- which traps us indoors, which inspires introspection, and is good weather for catching up on administrative duties. Or maybe you like to go and stand out in the rain and scream your pain to the heavens, which are already crying," Tsuna suggested, and tilted her chin towards the fight that was taking place before them. "The rain washes away pain, sorrow, happiness, and joy equally, but it also always brings hope."

"And lightning?" Xanxus asked.

"The lightning that damages the enemy, and the rod that accepts all damage, and destroys it?" Tsuna recalled thoughtfully. "Hm. I wonder. Have you ever noticed that the air smells fresher after a lightning storm? Or that the plants grow a little greener? It's also beautiful, in a dangerous way, and people have long-since harnessed lightning, electricity, to power our appliances. It can just as easily revive a heart that has stopped beating, as it can stop a healthy one. A truly diverse, spectacular force of nature, ne?"

Kusakabe finally incapacitated the arm that Superbi's sword was attached to, then kicked out his knees and grabbed hold of the long, silver-white hair.

"Voi," Superbi choked as his head was pulled back so far that it was painful, and harder to breathe.

"You should really do something about this," Kusakabe said as he took the ring from around his opponent's neck with the hand not holding the hair. "If you don't want to cut it, then you should at least tie it back."

And as of that moment, the majority of the Vongola Rings were held by Tsunahime's chosen Guardians.

"Do we even bother to continue?" Mammon asked, tone curious but uncaring. "I can't see any profit in it..."

"I will not accept a default win," Mukuro spoke up. "It is unworthy of my lady, and of myself."

"I'm not leaving without breaking _someone_ ," Hibari growled in agreement, and his quicksilver eyes darted across to Xanxus in challenge.

"It's alright to be scared of losing," Tsuna offered with a serene little smile. "But the agreement wasn't 'best of', it was fight by fight."

"Don't be so confident that your Mist Guardian will defeat me," Mammon puffed up.

"Kufufufufu, one way to find out," Rokudo said, laughing darkly and smiling eagerly. For his Sky, for the chance of her kind touch and approving smile, for a chance to bask in her light, he would not lose.

"I'm surprised to see such attitudes in your Cloud and your Mist," Xanxus said as a coin was flipped to decide which of the two would fight first. "The two types have a long history of not getting along."

"Maybe that's because they are too alike," Tsuna suggested thoughtfully. "After all, what is a Mist but a Cloud that lingers over the earth, rather than floating in the Sky? People see things in the mist, and lose their way, or they see a mist-covered valley from above, and marvel at its beauty. At the same time, people look up at the Clouds, and see shapes there, and lose hours in rapt contemplation of them, or the Clouds might be so numerous and thick that it is impossible to see the sky at all."

"And yet, yours are content to stand side by side, calmly, and without attacking or provoking one another," Xanxus observed.

"Mukuro-sama knows that he is Boss's footstool," Chrome spoke up, "and that Hibari-sempai is the one who will always hold her and guard her and protect her, just as there are always Clouds somewhere in the Sky, and the mist hovers beneath the Sky over the earth."

"The Small Animal broke him down most thoroughly," Hibari interjected with a proud smile.

"You say that as if you didn't both help," Tsuna grumbled good-naturedly.

Hibari shrugged, Chrome blushed, and neither said anything further.

A dagger flew through the air, whistling, until it landed with a sharp _thunk_ in the middle of the arena, where the two Mist Guardians were fighting.

"Your illusions are spilling over and beyond the arena," Belphegor snapped at both of them. "Stop disrupting my reality while I have a pretty girl in my lap, Mammy!"

"I'm surprised you were even aware of their illusions and trickery," Hana said with a smile. "I suppose I need to put in more effort," she declared in a cooing tone, and took charge of their... _actions_.

"I felt the ground disappear," Belphegor murmured between kisses.

"That wasn't them," Hana scoffed lightly.

"Chrome-chan, could you give them a room, please?" Tsuna requested as she fought down a giggle.

Miura, Kyoko, and Chrome herself didn't bother with such restraint as the female illusionist created walls around the Storm couple, so that no one else could see or hear what they got up to.

Within the designated fighting area, there were conjured snakes and groping tentacles. Rokudo particularly horrified his opponent by proving to be equally capable with a weapon as he was with illusions, and offended him with his talk of having seen the different paths of Asura – it seemed that Mammon was not a fan of the transmigration theory. There were pillars of fire, of ice, and a sudden outburst of glowing water-lotuses that trapped and squeezed the Arcoboleno who was part of the Varia. The floor broke up, and then there were pillars of fire going from every direction that were wrapped in lotuses as well. More ice to counter the fire.

Mammon flew, and Rokudo stood firm, unmoved as the world within the cage warped and dissolved. And, of course, there was a great deal of taunting.

"You must realise, that if your illusion is countered by an illusion, it means that you have given up control of your perception," Rokudo said when he held up both halves of the Mist Ring.

"You win the Ring Battle," Mammon agreed with a growl as Rokudo slotted the halves together and slipped the ring onto his finger, "but my professional pride will not accept defeat yet!"

"The Committee prepared multiple arenas, in case any one was destroyed by the battles, if Kyou-san wishes to begin his fight without waiting further," offered Kusakabe quietly.

"Iie," Hibari denied casually. "I wish to see the pineapple-head's victory on behalf of the Small Animal through to the very end. Then I will bite my opponent to death."

He didn't even have to wait very long. Rokudo made his final victory over the Arcoboleno very flashy, and almost totally final. Mammon escaped the battlefield as a literal mist through the small openings in the cage that surrounded them.

By comparison, the fight between Hibari and Gola Mosca – a giant automaton loaded with more weaponry than most anti-personnel ordinance – was almost terrifyingly brief. In one sweep of both tonfas, it was so many tiny pieces of scrap metal.

All of the Varia stared, slack-jawed, at the swift execution.

He clicked the two Half Rings together, and looked over his shattered foe one last time as he slipped it onto his finger.

"I want a better fight," Hibari declared, and piercing silver eyes swept over everybody present. He reached into the shattered remains, and pulled something out. "An old man in fancy armour is not up to my standards," he dismissed with a sneer as he threw the man out of the arena.

At a more sedate pace, somewhere between stalking and prowling, he followed.

"It- it's the Ninth!" exclaimed Basil, shocked. "What... what in the world is he doing here?"

"Why was he inside the Gola Mosca?" Gokudera asked the younger boy, confused.

Reborn leapt forward to tend the old man. "Oi! Get a hold of yourself!" he said as he set down a first aid kit and set his hand over the Ninth's brow.

"I'm not normally one for explanations in the middle of things, but just this once, I'd be happy to hear one," Tsuna requested.

"I've seen Mosca's structure once before," Reborn divulged as he ran a cursory eye over the wreckage, then got back to checking over the unconscious, bound old man that Hibari had pulled out of the destroyed machine. "It seems like the Ninth was being used as Gola Mosca's power supply."

"How delightful," Tsunahime grumbled, and sighed. "Reborn-san, is he physically hurt at all from when Hibari-sempai destroyed Gola Mosca?"

"No," Reborn confirmed.

"So he's only suffering from being a human battery," she recognised with a satisfied nod. "Does he need to go to the hospital right now? Or can it wait until after I've had my bout with Xanxus-san?"

"The sooner he's treated, the better," Reborn answered plainly. "Also, it's beginning to get late. Everybody should eat, rest, have any injuries properly tended, and then return tomorrow."

"Ah, that's a good point," Tsuna agreed, and stood from her chair. "Everybody is invited to eat at my house tonight," she called over. "Mama always cooks too much when her husband comes to visit, so it will be good to have extra people there to eat."

"And to get between you and the stupid monkey," Hana added.

"Oh? You've stopped making out with Belphegor-san at last?" Tsuna teased her friend.

"I wore him out," Hana declared with a helpless shrug, a wicked smile, and a brief but pointed glance over her shoulder.

Lussuria and Squalo both burst out laughing. They had followed Hana's over-the-shoulder glance and spotted Belphegore laid out on the ground, snoring, with a ridiculously happy grin on his face and his manly pride hidden by his Varia uniform jacket, which had been thoughtfully draped over him by the girl who had... apparently stolen his crown, along with his virginity.

"Small Animal..." Hibari said softly.

"Hai," she answered, just as softly.

When the very large party of Varia, Guardians, tutors, and CEDEF personnel reached the Sawada household, Hibari Kyouya and Sawada Tsunahime were not part of it. When Sawada Iemitsu loudly demanded to know where his daughter was, no one gave any answer. When Nana quietly asked Reborn if he knew where her daughter was, he was forced to admit ignorance beyond that she had slipped away from the group at some point – which frustrated him, because he genuinely didn't know when it had happened.

It was Hana that reassured the woman that she needn't worry, and reminded her that Tsuna had said she wouldn't return to the house as long as Iemitsu was present. She hadn't lowered her voice when imparting that information, and heads had swung around to check the CEDEF leader's reaction to the news.

Probably the only reason he hadn't burst into dramatic tears was because he was surrounded by the Varia, as well as there being one of his subordinates and a good number of very respected members of the greater Mafia all present. He could not lose any more face in front of them, not after being so blatantly avoided by his own daughter.

~oOo~

The Cervello had changed things up for the Sky Battle. While everybody else had gone home, gotten some rest, and then (for those who were not Varia) attended school, the Cervello had set up seven poles. Small towers with three bracing lines and a platform on top of the central pole that were still easily as tall as a two- or three-storey house. They was at least five hundred metres between each pole in every direction. Clearly visible above the trees, and within sight of each other, but not exactly close.

"According to tradition, the Sky Match must risk the lives of the Guardians as well as the prospective Bosses," one of the pink-haired cyborg woman explained.

"We allowed the other battles to go ahead as they were, but in this we will not be moved," added the second.

"Risk the lives of my Guardians _how_?" Tsuna demanded sharply. "You will lay out the rules now, before anything begins, or I will ignore your wishes. You have no authority over me."

"We have the authority of the Ninth," the two stated.

"I repeat," Tsuna countered firmly, her eyes flickering between sweet honey brown and a vibrant, fiery orange. "You have no authority over me. Now, answer my question."

"We will first reclaim the Rings -"

"You will first answer my question!" Tsuna snapped, and slapped her riding crop into her palm forcefully. There were sparks.

"We will not answer questions. You will obey, or be disqualified."

"You _will_ answer the questions, or you will be shot," Tsuna growled.

"Eh-heh!" Kyoko giggled, as she pointedly raised her shotgun, aimed in such a way that it would hit both of the Cervello.

"One of the conditions of victory is the same as the others: the completion of the Ring," the Cervello said, and those completely white eyes still seemed to linger nervously on the gun pointed at her. "The arena is the whole mountain, and we have set up small cameras all over, as well as a few large displays, other than just this one here, which will be the observation area."

"We have also prepared camera-equipped monitor wristbands for each of the Guardians, for both sides," added the other Cervello, and held up one such item so that it could be seen. "Each of the towers has clearly marked which Guardians are to take their places there, and we ask that each Guardian move to take their places as soon as you have put the wristbands on."

"... So, watching isn't all we'll be doing?" Belphegore mused as he accepted the wristband offered to him. "Will we be fighting again?"

"If you can, then if you wish. At the top of each of the poles, we intend -" the Cevello not handing out the wristbands scowled pointedly at Tsuna, "to set each of the Vongola Rings to match the Guardians that will wait below." It seemed that the scowl was for blocking them from collecting the Rings.

"Because it is the destiny of the Sky to embrace all, the Storm, the Rain, the Sun, the Lightning, the Mist, the Cloud. So, the lives of the Guardians are entrusted to the Boss."

"You're leaving something out," Tsuna said plainly, and tapped her crop against her leg impatiently.

"The final condition of victory is completing the Sky ring and obtaining all of the other Vongola Rings. You can set the other Vongola Rings in this chain," said the Cervello, and held up two chains, each with a slot made for a ring set at regular intervals.

Xanxus and Tsuna both claimed one, and hitched it to their belts.

"Also, as soon as the battle begins, we will not permit any outside interference," the other Cervello stated, and turned her white eyes on the tutors, friends, and CEDEF personnel who were not Guardians or Varia.

"Of course," Reborn spoke for the group.

"That is all that we will say until the Guardians are in their places," the two Cervello stated adamantly.

"Small Animal," Hibari said softly, and very lightly brushed his fingertips against hers, just briefly.

Tsuna forced herself to let go of the anger and tension. The Cervello still hadn't answered her question about how, exactly, her friends – and the Varia, for that matter – would be risking their lives. Still, she knew that her friends weren't defenceless or weak, and would have to have faith that, whatever it was, they could defeat it.

That, whatever she would have to do, she would be able to.

"Fine," she huffed.

~oOo~

"Now that everybody and everything is in place, including the Vongola Rings," the Cervello held up a small remote control device. "The poison built into all the wristbands has been injected into the Guardians."

Tsunahime's eyes lost any trace of honey brown, and a bright orange flame sprang to life over her brow in the place where the 'third eye' was said to reside.

"The poison called 'death heater' instantly attacks nerves, and even makes standing difficult," the Cervello woman continued, her voice far too calm and disaffected.

A second fire appeared over Tsuna's hair tie.

"The burning, piercing pain will gradually increase, and in thirty minutes, they will die."

The end of Tsuna's riding crop was glowing now as well.

"There is only one way to stop the progression of the poison. Insert the Ring into the Guardian's wristband. If you insert the Ring into the hollow of the wristband, then the antidote, which is also built into the wristband, will be released."

Suddenly, Tsuna wasn't there at all.

~oOo~

Kusakabe and Hibari were both their mother's sons. They wouldn't let something as petty as debilitating pain stop them. Kusakabe might be defeated by a concussion or a crippling injury, but pure pain? No. As for Hibari... Definitely not.

Rokudo knew pain. He knew death. He'd be alright for a little while.

Tsuna prioritised those of her Guardians who would not be so able to withstand the pain of the poison that had been injected into them. She went to Miura first.

"Hahi..." the girl whimpered in pain.

Tsuna descended from the sky, snatched the ring from the tower on her way down, and was quick to slam it into the spot on her friend's wristband. When she was certain that her squeaking friend was recovered, she moved to quickly cure Levi as well. Tsuna wasn't one to just leave someone to die, after all. Then she slipped the ring into its place on the chain, and took off to check on Kyoko.

Both Kyoko and Lussuria were moaning in pain, but clinging to each other for any comfort in the face of potentially imminent death.

"Lussuria-san, as you have a greater body-mass, the poison won't be working as quickly on you as on Kyoko," Tsuna said as she landed before them, Sun Ring in her hand. "So, forgive me for tending to my friend first?"

"Hai..." Lussuria agreed weakly.

Tsuna didn't wait between releasing the antidote for Kyoko and Lussuria. Both were sweet people (for all that one was also an assassin), and neither deserved to suffer like this.

She slotted the ring into the chain, and took off again.

Belphegor was face-down and not moving except to occasionally moan in pain. Hana was leaning against one of the supports for the tower, and breathing with deliberate regularity. Sweat was pouring down her face.

"Almost..." she hissed, her face scrunching just as Tsuna landed in front of her best friend with the Storm Ring.

Tsuna slotted it in.

"I think I almost had it on my own, Tsuna-chan," Hana said, but she was breathing much easier already. "I learned from Hibari-sempai's uncle that Storm Flames can dissolve things. I think I was just about able to dissolve the poison in my blood."

"As long as you don't dissolve the rest of yourself," Tsuna countered. "I've got to check on the boys now," she said as she pressed the ring into Belphegor's wristband. "Keep him occupied?" she teased with a smile.

Hana laughed, but it was weak.

"Sure."

Tsuna launched herself into the sky once more.

~oOo~

"...I wonder if they'll sell me the antidote," Mammon asked weakly.

"How about in trade for a favour?" Rokudo suggested, just as weakly, as he stood over his previous opponent, leaning heavily on the tower that loomed over them.

"What do you want?" Mammon demanded with a pained sigh. "You don't have the antidote."

"Who better to ask for lessons in accounting, than a self-proclaimed miser?" Rokudo countered with a grimace. "Sawada-hime is going to have to run all of the Vongola, after all."

"Rokudo-kun," Tsuna called as she came to land in front of him. "Are you alright? The ring was still at the top of the tower..." she said, even as she pressed it into his wristband.

"I am accustomed to pain, Sawada-hime," Rokudo acknowledged, "but not quite... this kind," he admitted. "Thank you."

"Like I'm going to leave you to die of poison after everything you've survived already," she informed him with a relieved smile when she saw his breathing even out.

"Oi! For the antidote, I'll pay you!" Mammon called, drenched in sweat and lying on the ground.

Tsuna shook her head as she knelt over him.

"I won't take money," she said as she pressed the ring into the much smaller wristband. "Rokudo-kun, let Chrome-chan, Ken-san, and Chikusa-san know that you're okay, ne? I've got two more to check on."

Rokudo nodded.

Tsuna vanished again.

~oOo~

Kusakabe tossed Tsuna the ring before she even landed, and went right back to sparring with Superbi.

"Voi!" the man yelled in complaint. After all, he did want his boss to win, and his opponent had not only been the one to give him the cure – knocking down the tower with sheer refusal to quit, no matter the pain – but had also just handed over the ring without even breaking stride in their fight.

He was a great deal more than just a little put out about the whole situation.

Finally, Tsuna landed in front of Hibari.

"You came to me last," he noted as he handed her his ring and she slipped the ring into her chain.

"I have ultimate faith in you, Hibari-sempai," Tsuna countered with a smile. "But the Lightning is so fleeting, I had to check it first, and the Sun should never be snuffed, so I went to that next."

"Logical," Hibari agreed. "They are learning, but they are Herbivores still. You also checked on Kurokawa-san? The girls wouldn't have the same constitution in general..."

"I did," Tsuna confirmed. "Then I had to make sure that my footstool had not been broken by someone other than myself, and I could check Kusakabe-sempai on my way to you."

"And what of your own opponent?" Hibari pressed.

"Ara? I'm sure he'll catch up. Ano..." Tsuna looked up to check the sky, then raised a hand, three fingers outstretched. One by one, she folded them down. "San... Nii... Ichi..."

"Trash!"

Tsuna shot up into the air in the direction that the shout had come from, riding crop in hand and on fire. Then again, both of her gloves were on fire as well. She was using her flames to propel herself into the sky. It was how she'd flown so quickly between all of her Guardians.

"Why do so many mafiosi have no manners?!" she scolded as she smacked Xanxus across the face with the riding crop. "That. Is not. The correct way. To address. A lady!" she informed him, and punctuated her speech with more strikes of her flaming riding crop. "Ever!" Tsuna declared finally, and snapped the chain from which his half of the Sky Ring was hanging around his neck.

She caught the Half Ring, cut her flames and let herself fall as she slotted the two halves together, then she set the completed ring back onto her finger.

She barely avoided being shot by Xanxus as she went into freefall. She didn't see the world fade out, or Hibari shoot past her to, ahem, bite Xanxus to death.

~oOo~

"We are the sins of the Vongola."

"We are the Bosses who have come before you."

"Will you accept the Sins of the Vongola?"

"Will you carry on our bloody legacy?"

"Will you make the sacrifices necessary to keep Vongola strong?"  
"... You're kidding, right?" Tsuna countered. "I just proved, in what was probably record time, that there are sacrifices I am _not_ willing to make, and you're asking me about carrying on a 'bloody legacy' and 'accepting sins'? Congratulations, you're all idiots, but I'm the next Boss of the Vongola, so I'll be doing things my way, thank you very much!"

"That won't be easy," warned the only woman in the circle.

"Tch," Tsuna scoffed. "Of course it won't. I'm not Italian, and I've just inherited a mafia family. I'm not a man, but I've got to run a male-dominated organisation. I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request," she said pointedly as she glared at the people who surrounded her, "so I'll be shaking things up. Frankly, I'm surprised my first meeting with any mafiosi went as well as my meeting with Xanxus-san did."

From beyond the circle of seven people with eyes that radiated fire, an eighth stood. The circle parted to let him through. He lay gloved hands on Tsuna's shoulders, and fiery orange eyes looked into fiery orange eyes.

"You will do well, Sawada Tsunahime, my descendant. Rule the Vongola with such a heart, and you will not fail those who follow you."

~oOo~

"Trash!"

"I'll bite you to death."

"Ushishishi!"

"Kufufufu..."

"Voi!"

"Hahi!"

Tsuna blinked, set her feet on the ground (she'd been floating a foot above it, like she was lying on a _literal_ air-bed), and turned her hands to the ground.

It iced over, and everyone lost their footing in a spectacular show of abrupt-loss-of-grace-and-balance.

"I close my eyes, meet a bunch of dead people, and everything turns into a free-for all," Tsuna scolded them before anybody could right themselves. "I am not at all certain that I approve."

"You met -?!" Xanxus asked, eyes wide and frame tense where he was sitting on ice.

"Well, they said they were the Vongola Bosses who had come before," Tsuna said with a shrug, "and the one with the gravity-defying blonde hair gave me his blessing to rule the Vongola."

"Primo..." Superbi breathed, his own eyes wide in his face.

"Of course, the only woman in the group pointed out that I'd have a hard time of things. Seemed sympathetic though."

"Nonna did?" Xanxus asked. It was hard to tell, but those hard red eyes softened, just a little, at the mention of the woman.

"Mm," Tsuna agreed with a nod. "Now, is everybody willing to play nice? The whole question of official succession to the heirloom rings seems to have been resolved, however unsatisfactory some of us may find that resolution to be. There are still some important logistics to be sorted out though, and I'd rather do that in a comfortable chair, than out here on the side of a mountain."

Before they could go anywhere though, Tsuna had to melt the ice she'd made.

~oOo~

They were violent men, both of them. Not abusive, not uncontrolled, but violence was part of their nature. It was how they expressed themselves when words were not enough. Soft touches were reserved for deeply private times, she knew from her experience with Hibari, and postulated from what she had learned of Xanxus. It should not have surprised anybody, therefore, that the two men had... _agreed_ to fight one another to decide which wedding would be happening first.

Which wedding _night_ would be happening first.

Not that either wedding would be happening immediately. In the first place, Sawada Tsunahime was still too young to marry. For another, there were traditions and legalities that needed to be observed for both of these weddings, quite apart from all the planning that went into any wedding, no matter where, when, or who it was.

The consolation prize for whichever of them did not win, was the right to be the one who finally did something about Iemitsu. Hibari had his reasons for hating the man, most of which were spawned from Tsuna's, but the feather-wearing Italian had a long list of his own reasons for wanting to be the one to deal with the man.

Still, that was something that no one would be allowed to follow through on until after the wedding – Nana still loved her husband, after all, even if Tsuna had disavowed all relations with him.

~The End~


	9. Epilogue?

~Bonus: The Day Iemitsu Left~

Sawada Tsunahime was an average middle school girl. She had a best friend, another close friend, and a boy she liked. She generally got average scores in most of her subjects, though she struggled with more complicated mathematics. She liked to cook, and she was tidy because she didn't like cleaning.

She lived with her mother in their two-storey house in Namimori. Normally it was just the two of them, though for the past couple of days they had been hosting a man who insisted on Tsunahime calling him 'Otou-san', while Nana – Tsunahime's mother – called him 'Anata'. This man had visited before, and Tsuna understood that the man was her mother's husband, and (technically) her father, but she had no feelings for the man.

"Tsuna-chan," Nana called.

Tsunahime turned away from the window that had a view of the front yard. She had just seen the man pass his yellow hard-hat to someone in a black suit.

"Yes, Mama?" she asked as she came down the stairs.

"Tsuna-chan, your father has disappeared to become a star!" Nana cooed, stars in her eyes. "Isn't that romantic?"

Tsunahime blinked, and stared at her mother.

"Mama, your idea of romantic, and mine, are clearly quite different," Tsunahime informed her mother with a faint, amused smile.

~oOo~

"Oho? What is this?" Kurokawa Hana asked with a grin when Tsuna entered their classroom the next day. "That's quite the fancy hairstyle, Tsuna-chan. What is the occasion?"

"Mother's husband left yesterday," Tsuna answered with a smile. "He 'disappeared to become a star'."

"Eh?" Kyoko asked, her amber eyes large with concern. "Doesn't... doesn't that mean he's dead?" she asked softly.

"That is the usual meaning," Hana agreed slowly, cautiously, "unless he's going into the movie business, that is."

Tsuna shook her head. "Definitely dead," she affirmed brightly.

Tsuna, unlike other girls in her class, was not her daddy's little princess, whatever name she had been given when she was born. (The characters for her name spelled 'gang princess', truly, she worried about her parents' naming sense.) Or, perhaps he thought of her as such, but Tsuna certainly didn't harbour any warm feelings to her male progenitor. When he was around the house, which was rarely, he was a poor excuse for a human being, and an even worse father.

"We should go out for ice cream after school," Tsuna suggested to her friends. "And go shopping! There are some things that I want to buy."

"Tsuna-chan..." Kyoko said softly, concerned.

Hana, who was much more observant than Kyoko, took in all the details of her friend. The uniform was as it always was, and her nails were unpainted – that was school regulation, as was the lack of showy make-up, though Tsuna had put a little bit of light pink gloss on her lips. The hair though... the hair was a give-away to her feelings on the matter, even more than her bright, carefree smile was.

Tsuna had a habit of weaving flowers into her long brown hair, and her choice of flowers was significant. Hana's parents ran a flower shop, and her father was classically trained in the meaning and arrangement of flowers (in both the European and the Japanese schools), so she had learned the meanings of flowers at his knee – whether she'd wanted to or not. Being a truly charitable, unselfish friend, she had forced Tsuna and Kyoko to learn with her.

They, unlike Hana, had both enjoyed learning such things. Kyoko hadn't remembered much of it, but Tsuna did. Hana had endured, and then found it useful when Tsuna had started wearing flowers in her hair.

The school generally frowned on large hair pieces, but Tsuna got around the matter by turning the flowers into simple pins that she could slide in and out of the style she was wearing without upsetting anything – which meant that, as soon as the teachers showed up, the flowers vanished. If they made a reappearance during breaks, and (naturally) after school, then at least the teachers couldn't say anything. Hana wasn't quite sure how her friend actually turned the flowers into pins, but as she herself wasn't one for wearing flowers in her hair, she left the matter alone. Every girl needed a few secrets, even from her best friends.

(If she had ever reached out to touch one, something she will never do because she knows how easily flower petals bruise, then Hana would have learned that the flowers were actually made of silk. If she had ever pulled out one of those elaborate hairpins, she would have seen the maker's mark half-way down the shaft. Tsuna buys them from a store that Hana has never, and will never, go into, because Hana doesn't like putting pins and clips into her hair.)

Now...

Well, Hana had noticed the white poppy straight away, and that meant 'rejoice'. Now that she was looking closer though, she could see that there was also red spider lilies tucked in behind the larger single flower that was dominating the braided bun that Tsuna had done her hair up into. Red spider lilies meant 'never to meet again'.

Tsuna was happy that she was never going to see her father again, that he had abandoned them, and she would forget him happily.

Hana lay a hand on Kyoko's shoulder. Kyoko was... softer than Tsuna. Kyoko was like fairy-floss, compared to Tsuna's chocolate. Tsuna could break, and melt, and _go_ soft, but she wasn't as delicate as the easily torn-up fairy-floss Kyoko. Hana considered herself to be one of the hard-boiled sweets, the kind that people could break their teeth on, and the protective shell that stood between her two friends and all the many monkeys that were their classmates.

"If you want to go shopping, and buy ice cream, then we'll go with you," Hana agreed. "But I want to get some homework done before we go, okay?"

Tsuna smiled brightly in answer. "Study group, then shopping," she agreed happily.

~oOo~

"Nope, no good, I hereby declare myself defeated," Tsuna said as she pushed the worksheet away from herself and shoved her pencil into her stationary kit. "Who ever needs to know calculus, anyway?"

Hana and Kyoko, well and truly familiar with Tsuna's ongoing battle with mathematics, giggled at her theatrics. All of the girls were passing the class, but Tsuna only just. Kyoko was about ten points higher, and Hana (who had the best grasp of numbers) had an average score of ninety-something for the wretched class.

"Isn't it one of those 'pure maths' things? Only of interest to people who get their jollies off numbers?" Tsuna grumbled, and tucked her sheet away into her folder. "Can we _please_ go shopping and get ice cream now?" she begged.

Her friends outright laughed, but agreeably packed up their own work sheets, and stood up from the park bench they had been working at. They might have used a class room to study in after school, but students who weren't part of a club of some kind were not permitted to remain on school grounds, so, on sunny days, they studied in the park. If the weather was uncooperative, then they generally went to the public library.

Nothing against any of their homes, but each girl had some small something that made studying at home irritating for them. For Hana, it was her father's obsession with his flowers. For Kyoko, her older brother is the reason they don't study at her house. (Actually, Kyoko didn't mind him at all, and Ryohei always gives one-hundred percent to anything he does. It is Hana who could barely tolerate the older boy.) For Tsuna, it was how her mother always just walked into her bedroom without knocking.

"So, what shops do you want to look at, Tsuna-chan?" Kyoko asked eagerly. "I've heard that there is a new cake shop that opened last week."

"I get enough cake at home, and I already said that I wanted ice cream," Tsuna protested with a smile. "I need to buy some card, and a silver pen."

"We could always go to a tea shop, or look at cute dresses," Hana suggested. "To only buy some card and a pen hardly counts for a shopping expedition."

~oOo~

The next day, Hana noticed that the flowers Tsuna was wearing in her hair were primarily, but not exclusively, gardenias. The other girl had worn them before, but never before had she worn them with violets. Periodically, Tsuna had worn all the different flowers that meant she was in love, that she would be faithful, that she was silently devoted, that the love was true, and she had worn the yellow tulip of one-sided love almost as many times as she had the gardenias.

Generally with the gardenias.

A love that was one-sided, because it was a secret love that she had not confessed.

That she was wearing the flower of secret love with the flower of honesty...

"Tsuna-chan, are you going to confess today?" Hana asked with a wide-eyed whisper before their first class of the day started.

Tsuna nodded once, firmly.

"... Do you want me to come?" Hana offered carefully.

"Iie," Tsuna denied. "I'd rather go on my own."

"Alright then. Will you do it at lunch time, or after school?"

"Lunch time."

"Then Kyoko and I will go to our usual spot and wait for you."

"Thank you."

~oOo~

Tsuna made herself not fidget, and stand tall – or, rather, as tall as she could – as she looked into his narrowed, suspicious eyes.

"I really like you, Sempai," she declared.

"..." His eyes widened in surprise.

Tsuna smiled shyly at that. It seemed that the boy she liked hadn't ever been confessed to before, and wasn't quite sure how to deal with it.

"A lot," she added, and held out the small gift she had prepared. It was wrapped in the card that she had bought yesterday, and decorated with careful drawings in silver pen. "Even if you don't accept my feelings, Sempai, please accept this."

Cautiously, and Tsuna had never seen him cautious of anything before, he extended his pale hands and took the carefully wrapped box from her.

"Thank you for listening to me, Sempai," Tsuna said, and gave a deep, sincere bow.

"... I will need time to think on this," he said at last.

Tsuna snapped up, eyes wide and hopeful as she looked at him. Honestly, she had expected to be rejected, but she was just feeling so wonderful, that she had felt she would burst with happiness if she didn't do something. Which was why she had decided to confess to her long-time crush.

Tsuna had fallen in love with the older boy back when she was in her very first year of elementary school.

"Hai, Sempai."

~oOo~

When Tsuna came to school the next day with a white camellia pin holding her bun in place, Hana and Kyoko both gave their friend a tight hug each. She hadn't said anything about how her confession had gone, so neither girl had pushed. The flower was an explanation in and of itself though.

Waiting, it said. Hana knew at once, and whispered it quickly into Kyoko's ear. Neither girl took too long to figure out what that must mean.

Tsuna's confession hadn't been answered.

She wore that same flower for the rest of the week, and the looks her friends sent her each day became slowly more pitying. She kept her spine straight though, and didn't let the weight of uncertainty bow her head.

Not when she changed the camellia for forget-me-nots and daisies the week after, not when she threaded lavender through her braid the week after that (real lavender, even, as that was a flower that kept extremely well, no matter the abuse it suffered), not even when she replaced it with a yellow camellia or a white rose or a zinnia.

True Love and faith, then faithfulness. Longing, devotion, loyalty.

Not even when the white camellia was once more placed in her hair two months later, did Tsuna let her shoulders fall in hopelessness or her back be bowed with regret.

Hana worried when there was suddenly a red camellia in her friend's hair though.

"Perishing," Hana said in a demanding tone that morning. "Over a monkey. Tsuna-chan, I thought you had better sense than that, especially the number of times I've heard you complain about how your own mother is in regards to _that man_."

"He hasn't answered me, Hana-chan," Tsuna countered softly, a tiny little smile still on her face, despite everything. "So I feel like I am torn between hopeful and heartbroken. He said he needed to think about it, and from his expression, I don't think he'd ever been confessed to before, so I accepted that. I do accept that. It's just... getting harder. Maybe I am more like my mother than I thought. Maybe it's genetic, that when we give our hearts, that's just it for us."

"Then I suggest you take that flower out of your hair," Hana said, and jabbed her finger at the offending bloom, "and go and confront him again. If you won't, then I demand you tell me which monkey it is, and then _I_ will go and beat an answer out of him."

For all that Tsuna had been best friends with Hana since their first week of elementary school, her crush was one secret that she had never, never shared. Not with anybody.

"..."

"Sawada Tsunahime."

"I suppose he is the sort of boy that I would need to prove myself to," Tsuna said slowly, "that words would not be enough."

~oOo~

"Sempai."

"..."

~oOo~

The next day, Tsuna floated into the classroom with a smile on her face and a bright, blood-red rose in full bloom sitting in pride of place on top of her chignon.

Hana and Kyoko both tackled their friend in shared joy.

"He said yes?" Kyoko said, double-checking, just to hear the confirmation of what they were sure was the case.

"He accepted my feelings," Tsuna confirmed happily.

"Now will you tell us who it is?" Hana demanded.

Tsuna giggled. "I thought I was being very obvious today, actually," she admitted, and pulled the rose out of her hair, in preparation for when the teacher came in.

That was when Hana registered the small brown feathers, disguised among the fly-away brown hair, that were also attached to a smaller hair pin. At first, she had thought they were browned leaves attached to the rose, but she could see them more clearly now. They were actually almost impossible to see, now that the pressure of the rose wasn't making them rise at a stiff angle compared to the rest of Tsuna's hair, but now that Hana's attention had been drawn to them specifically...

"No," she breathed, eyes wide. " _That_ violent monkey?" she asked in an almost scandalised whisper.

"He's not a monkey, Hana-chan," Tsuna censured her friend gently. "He's a bird. Maybe that's why I was willing to wait so long as well," she added, her honey eyes solemn and thoughtful. "You don't win the loyalty of a bird by caging it, after all."

Hana snorted, not at all amused. She would have said something more, but the teacher arrived just then, so everybody had to hurry to their seats.

~oOo~

"It had better not be because of his looks," Hana said as soon as it was just the two of them. Neither Hana or Tsuna wanted to worry Kyoko with the knowledge of exactly who Tsuna had given her heart to. "I never took you for a shallow person, Tsuna-chan, but I honestly have no idea what you could see in him beyond his looks."

"He is handsome," Tsuna agreed happily with a smile, a hand raised to her cheek to hide a little of her blush. "Even beautiful, but that isn't what made me fall in love with him."

"Please Tsuna-chan," Hana begged. "I need you to explain this to me. He's a violent monkey and I will worry that you're setting yourself up to be in an abusive relationship if you don't!"

Tsuna laughed.

Hana pouted, that her perfectly legitimate concerns were being laughed at.

"Sempai wouldn't hurt me," she assured her friend. "Now that he's decided that I'm his, the only harm that he will allow will be training bruises."

"Training bruises?" Hana repeated, her tone worried and angry all at once.

"He's going to teach me how to defend myself," Tsuna explained. "Not that I'm likely to need that knowledge. He's so protective of what he's claimed as his..."

"Tsuna-chan... are you content to be a claimed _thing_?" Hana asked cautiously.

"Of course not," Tsuna denied, "but I'm not a thing to him. I'm a person. Not an ideal, a distant concept, or a simple creature that exists solely to provide comfort on the occasion that he feels like deigning to accept some."

Hana's entire face pinched slightly, aware that Tsuna was talking about the relationship – if it could be called that – between her parents.

"He's so... _present_ , Hana-chan," Tsuna explained, a blissful little smile on her face. "Protective, yes and maybe more than a little possessive, but he's not restrictive. I'm his now, but that doesn't mean that I'm not also still my own person, and that goes both ways too."

"What?!" Hana yelped in surprise. "He... accepts that?" she asked delicately.

"He does," Tsuna confirmed, then thought about how she could better explain it to her best friend, because it was clear that Hana still didn't get it. "It's... you compare people, boys our age in particular, to monkeys, Hana-chan. I've described him as a bird -"

Hana snorted again at the description. "And you're a fluffy little bunny," Hana interrupted her friend. "Birds and bunnies don't pair up. In fact, if he's a bird, then he's the kind that would eat fluffy little bunnies for breakfast. Tsuna-chan -!"

Tsuna sighed. At least Kyoko wasn't prying into who, how, or why, content simply that Tsuna was happy. The other girl did occasionally ask what Tsuna and her boyfriend got up to though.

~oOo~

Hana caught Tsuna muttering to herself between classes – but not in Japanese.

"He's teaching me Mandarin, so that I'll be able to speak with his relatives if they visit him suddenly."

Kyoko asked what sort of dates they went on.

"We're going to a movie tomorrow night. I think he booked out the whole cinema, just so that he wouldn't have to put up with anybody talking during the film."

Hana demanded to know why Tsuna had bruises all over her arms and legs.

"His uncle came to visit for a week to check on Sempai, and while he was here, Sempai got his uncle to teach me more about how to defend myself better. Those lessons in Mandarin came in useful sooner than expected! Though, Sempai's uncle does speak excellent Japanese as well..."

Kyoko asked what Tsuna and her boyfriend would be doing for New Year.

"We're going to sit on his roof and watch the New Year fireworks together. Just the two of us."

Hana asked, wryly, if Tsuna would be making Valentine chocolates for her sweet-hating boyfriend.

"Of course I'm making him chocolate for Valentine's Day! He actually has a sweet-tooth, but so many people just throw the wrappers away willy-nilly, it really annoys him, so he comes across as hating sweets because of that."

Kyoko cooed in awe over a recipe that Tsuna had chosen for their Home Economics class.

"Eh? Oh, I guess it is a complicated recipe, but it's Sempai's favourite, so I'll make it and box it up for him, rather than just whatever sort and giving it to one of the boys in our class."

~Bonus: Extreme Measures~

The day that Tsuna caught the attention of Sasagawa Ryohei was... not a good day. He had taken it into his head that Tsuna should join his boxing club. His reasoning was not known, and his enthusiasm and determination to achieve his desire – that of getting Tsuna into his club – was not appreciated.

Tsuna went to Kyoko, who tried talking to her brother. Normally, this was an effective tactic concerning the boxing-obsessed boy. In this case, it was not.

After a week of harassment, and a week of refusals of every sort, Tsunahime sat down with Hana and Kyoko, and declared a pre-emptive apology.

"I'm sorry, Kyoko-chan, but I cannot and will not take this any more," Tsuna said. "He's just not getting it, no matter what I say or how I slap him."

Kyoko smiled weakly in understanding.

"What are you going to do?" Hana asked, morbidly curious.

"I'm going to use... _extreme_ measures," Tsuna answered.

After school that day, Ryohei charged up to Tsunahime again and requested/demanded that she join his club.

Tsuna raised her knee sharply, and when he fell, she stomped down hard.

"Sasagawa-sempai, when a girl says 'no', she means 'no', always," Tsuna informed him as she ground her heel in. "Stop asking me to join your stupid club!"

~The End~


End file.
